Intruder
by Rocket Axxonu
Summary: When Ryou starts staying at the Kame Game Shop due to a forgetful father, he stresses since he doesn't want to burden Yugi... or is it pride? How will Ryou react when his father and 'late' sister come back into to town? RyouIshizu, JoeyTea, YamiMai
1. Stress and Nightmares

This is my second fanfiction; I hope you like it. n.n

Note: Chapters 1-10 have been revised and reconstructed from the originals, so now everyone except Bakura (except Bakura will be third-person sometimes) is third-person.

the pairings are:yami/mai, joey(jou)/tea(anzu), ryou/ishizu(isis)

**Things you need to know:**

-Disclaimer: I do not own yugioh; that would be Kazuki Takahashi.

-communication between host(hikari) and yami- /.../

-This means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending) : -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

-I'll use the american anime names for all the characters except I refer to 'Marik' as 'Malik'.

-The only person in this fic who ever uses first person POV is Ryou; the others characters will be written third person style.

-This fic is set right after Battle City.

-this is a non-yaoi fic.

Chapter 1: Stress and Nightmares

Ryou sighed deeply and rolled over in bed again. Morning could wait a little longer...

No, it better not, Ryou decided after a moment. He groaned and sat up, his gaze automatically falling on his window and the beautiful colors of hundreds of leaves signaling the autumn drifting gently toward the ground outside it.

He sighed. 'Well, maybe the day won't be a _complete_ waste...'

He forced himself out of bed and trudged toward the bathroom for his ritual morning shower. He had considered more than once getting his hair cut for the convenience of not needing to dedicate three-quarters of an hour washing it.

With a fresh uniform on and his bed all made, he made his way to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Cooking may have been one of Ryou's favorite pastimes, but he didn't like to take the time(as he would have to get up earlier) to fix breakfast on school days. So, as usual, he just grabbed a couple slices of bread and stuck them in the toaster.

When he went to the sink to wash his hands he could not help but notice the expensively adorned knife sitting on the counter. ...It would probably be too much to hope for that he owned this knife legally.

/Of course I bought it, Ryou! What do you take me for? It was completely legal./

Ryou looked up at the ghostly image of the 'other Bakura' before looking back down at the foot-long dagger as he tried to suppress his incredulity.

/Right, I believe you,-/ he muttered after a moment, trying his level best not to be too curt with the five-thousand-year old tomb robber.

/No I did, Host,-/ he insisted. /Now, I can't say the same for the _money _I used to buy it with.../

Ryou started to roll his eyes, then paused as a thought occurred to him. /But thanks anyway,-/ said Ryou an odd sort of smile spreading across his face.

The yami frowned a little and his eyes narrowed. /What for?-/

/Well,-/ said Ryou slowly, trying to keep his voice even/for getting it for me, actually. It was really thoughtful for you. But one thing I'm interested in knowing; how did you know I needed a new pairing knife?-/

At first, the yami looked completely insulted, then he quickly rearranged his face into an almost tranquil expression. /Well, you know me, always looking for ways to help you out, Vessel.../

Ryou made a soft sound of disbelief. /Uh huh. That's up there on the list along with honest trade and making world peace a reality, right?-/

/Now you're catching on.../

Ryou sighed and shook his head and turned away from his yami. The spirit of his Millennium Ring could be really, ah, **less inclined** to be a law-abiding citizen than other people at times, but hey, at least he wasn't trying to take over the world anymore.

/I don't see why I even try with you,-/ Ryou told him, smiling a little and shaking his head as he turned back to face the yami.

/That makes two of us, then,-/ he said, smirking.

Before Ryou could reply, a light "Tksh!" from behind made him jump.

"Oh, I forgot about the toast," he mumbled.

/Talking to ourselves, are we?-/ the yami, still smirking, felt the need to ask.

/Yes, Yami, WE are talking to ourselves/ Ryou answered, grinning despite himself.

/Just eat your breakfast, Host,-/ the yami answered shortly.

/Thank you,-/ Ryou answered all too cheerfully.

/Just do it,-/ said the yami coldly, apparently annoyed with his host's attitude.

/Do you always have to have the last word?-/ Ryou asked, shaking his head again.

/Yes,-/ the yami answered smugly as he faded back into the Ring.

Smiling and shaking his head, Ryou turned his attention back to his toast.

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"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep."

A woman with long, black hair moaned and rolled over.

"Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep."

'Oh Ra, it can't be morning already, can it?' she thought.

"BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP--" Her hand fumbled around for the snooze button, but she hit the "off" button by accident.

Blast. Now she had the choice of either getting up now, or getting to work a little late- to use the word "little" loosely.

She gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to use one of the less polite words in her brother's vocabulary. She took a second to silently pray that Ra wouldn't smite her for her disrespect before she groggily stumbled out of bed. She'd better go get her coffee started... Ishizu Ishtar hadn't always been a coffee person, but if you had to get up at five in the morning, you'd need something to keep you awake, too.

Ishizu got a glass of water to drink in hopes that it would wake her up long enough to actually prepare the coffee. She shook her head several times and stumbled over to the coffee machine.

"G' morning, Ishizu," a voice from behind her said, sounding sluggish.

Too tired to be startled, she simply looked over her shoulder at her younger brother instead. 'Since when does he get up so early?' she wondered. Feeling a bit too tired to ask, she said curtly, "Go back to bed, Malik."

"Shouldn't you be at the museum, already? What time is it?" he asked, already sounding a little less sleepy. Lucky him.

"It's five o'clock; go back to bed," Ishizu said again, now trying not to sound as irritated as she felt.

"Five o'clock... in the morning?" Malik asked.

"Yes, now go back to sleep." Her already thin patience was wearing thinner. If he didn't do what she said, and go back to bed, **right now**...

"Sleep... with who?" he asked.

Ishizu turned around gave him what she hoped was a good enough glare to show she was serious.

Instead of taking the hint, Malik just grinned at her.

"Bed, Malik. **Now**," Ishizu said, taking on her authoritative voice- well, her five o'clock in the morning, I-haven't-had-my-coffee-yet version of her authoritative voice.

"Okay, okay..." Malik muttered, finally getting the drift, and wandered back into his room.

Ishizu sighed and rubbed her temples. He wasn't awake enough to look at the clock himself, but he was still capable of making dirty jokes?

"You really shouldn't get up this early, Miss Ishizu; it puts you in a foul mood the rest of the day."

"Good morning, Odion," she answered. "And I know it makes me ill-tempered. In fact, I think we established that by at least the third time you told me."

"That's what I mean..." Odion mumbled under his breath. It was so early in the morning, that she apparently wouldn't listen to reason either. "Just so you understand," he added out loud. "I don't want you to stress, Ishizu." Odion allowed a hint of forcefulness in his voice.

Ishizu sighed. "I know. I'm fine, Odion, really." She tried to give him a reassuring smile.

Odion raised an eyebrow in a gesture that showed he didn't believer her.

"You shouldn't be up this early either, Odion," Ishizu pointed out, turning the tables, but Odion just sighed and shook his head, apparently still not convinced.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject, "would you do me a favor, Odion? Watch my coffee for me while I take a quick shower, would you?"

"Yes, Ishizu. It will have to be a _very_ quick shower if you want it to be hot still when you get out, though," he informed her.

"Thank you, Odion. I'll try to hurry." Ishizu said as she headed toward the bathroom. She felt a little more awake now... Maybe she wouldn't need that cup of coffee anyway.

Ishizu sighed as she thought. Odion was always so considerate... she could more than understand Odion not wanting her to stress, but he should also understand that if she didn't, then they wouldn't have enough money to keep their small apartment. Not to say she particularly liked having about five different jobs to do and absolutely no free time anymore.

Ever since the Ishtars had moved back to Japan, money had been rather tight, even with Ishizu working practically twenty-four seven, but she still didn't regret moving here. Malik hadn't gotten along well with other students in Egypt when she'd tried to send him to school, so she'd hoped that if they moved to Domino, Malik could be among people who understood his troubled past, namely Yugi and his friends. He was **still** a troublemaker at school, only now he was a happy troublemaker instead of a depressed one.

Of course the money situation wasn't much improved by the fact that Joey's sister was staying with them while she visited Joey (she couldn't stay with Joey because of their dad), but Ishizu would never complain; Serenity was such a sweet girl.

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"_I order you to put that down!" the old man shouted furiously._

"_And if I don't?" The boy's words were meant to taunt, but his irises were shrunk in fury, showing that he was in no joking mood. He clenched the golden, staff-like object a little tighter.._

"_Malik, drop it," the old man repeated, although this time, a note of fear had wormed its way into his commanding, arrogant tone._

_In reply, the boy held up the gold staff- the staff the man had been talking about- and it began to emit a blinding light. _

"_Malik, no!" the voice of a young girl somewhere beyond the boy's range of vision begged._

_Malik ignored the voice as he felt a dark power surge through his system that threw the old man back against the wall._

"_M-My son..." the old man mumbled, unable to fight the power of the Millennium Item. _

_Malik walked toward the now helpless form and unsheathed the "staff," revealing it for what it truly was._

_Malik smirked broadly, a sadistic excitement shown by the pulsating veins on his face. "Time to send you... to the dreaded Shadow Realm." _

-.

Malik jerked suddenly, and his eyes snapped open.

'Where...? Oh, that's right: my room.'

He wiped sweat from his forehead and tried to slow his hammering heart back to a less anaerobic rate.

'It was just a nightmare, Malik,' he told himself. 'Just a nightmare.'

To tell the truth, it hadn't been much different from the ones he'd been having ever since the end of Battle City, but for some reason they never got any less frightening or horrible. They always managed to make him feel guilty, even if it hadn't really been him who'd done _that_- or any of the other terrible things he dreamed about. Because he knew, deep down, that it'd been he, himself who'd created that demon in the first place... Malik couldn't directly remember everything that fiend had done, but the dreams told him a lot. More than he really wanted to know, actually...

Stupid dreams.

'I guess I'll get up now,' he thought, sitting up. It wasn't like he'd get any more sleep anyway.

When he walked into the kitchen, he was a little surprised to see Ishizu, still in her pajamas.

"G' morning, Ishizu," he said, trying to act like he was still tired. If he got up this early and seemed to be totally awake, Ishizu would know something was wrong.

"Go back to bed, Malik," she answered in a less-than-endearing sort of way.

"Shouldn't you be at the museum right now? What time is it?" he asked, forgetting to act tired in his confusion. Just how early was it? Ishizu was usually gone way before he even got up...

"It's five o'clock; go back to bed," she said tersely, not even bothering to look around at him.

Wow, that _was_ early considering that Malik usually got up about five minutes before the first warning bell at school rang.

"Five o'clock... in the morning?" he asked, trying not to grin, as he knew perfectly well that it wouldn't be dark outside if it was five in the afternoon. It was obvious that Ishizu was in an even worse mood than usual and he intended to make the most of it.

"Yes, now go back to sleep," she grumbled.

This time, Malik could not suppress it and allowed him a small grin. "Sleep... with who?"

Ishizu turned around and gave him a cold stare that would have sent any normal person running for cover.

Malik smiled as innocently as he could manage.

"Bed, Malik. **Now**."

"Okay, okay..." he mumbled and headed back to his room to maybe look at his Duel Monster cards or something. After all, there was only so far he could press his luck.

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And that's it. Please r & r. Constructive criticism and flames are welcome.

This is the THIRD rewritten/revised/reconstructed(is that redundant?) version of Chapter 1. Just because I just felt the need... AGAIN. XDD I don't think I'll be revising the other ones too much, though. I read over them and found some typos, but I don't think the require the major rewriting that this one did... yet. :O XD


	2. A Haughty CEO

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

thoughts: '...'

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 2: A Haughty CEO

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He got up at exactly four o'clock A.M. He took a shower that lasted exactly fifteen minutes. He traveled down two flights of stairs until he reached the kitchen. He fixed breakfast for himself(instant oatmeal, like yesterday) and ate it. That took exactly half-an-hour. He walked into his downstairs office and grabbed his laptop, so he could take it into the living room to work. Two minutes, twenty-two seconds. He would now work on his laptop for exactly two hours, ten minutes, and thirty-eight seconds. Finally, that would give him exactly two minutes to get into his limo to leave for school at exactly seven o'clock.

Ah, the joys of regularity. Not that Seto Kaiba would **ever** admit toexperiencing anything as trivial as 'joy'.

But, unfortunately for the CEO, part of regularity meant that as soon as he sat down to work on his laptop, his thoughts began to stray toward a certain spiky-haired zealot.

'Curse Yugi. Yugi and his pathetic 'Heart of the Cards'. Honestly, how could I lose to someone who thinks that the cards have a heart? That destiny controls who wins?'

Kaiba continued to work, finding his lack of concentration irritating. That was one of Kaiba's weaknesses: once he found something he wanted, he would not, could not rest until he had accomplished his goal. Kaiba knew that his mind could** never** be at peace until he defeated his one true rival: Yugi Mutou.

After many minutes of half thinking about his work at hand and his failed attempts defeating Yugi, Kaiba glanced hopefully at his watch. Maybe it would be time to go to school now. It was actually a little early, but he decided to go now anyway.

He'd already started to toward the door, when the sound of a young voice made him hesitate.

"Good morning, Seto!"

Kaiba spared the black-haired boy half a glance. "Good morning, Mokuba."

"Going to school, now?" Mokuba asked, conversationally, since it was about the only conversation he'd been having with his brother lately.

"Yes," Kaiba answered, sounding distracted.

"Oh. Well, see ya later, Big Bro," Mokuba said a little sadly.

"Bye, Mokuba," Kaiba answered, still speaking more out of habit than giving actual answers.

He was the first student in the classroom as usual, and, as usual, he continued his work on his laptop. He didn't even lift his head from his work when the first students started filing into the room. Even if he wasn't really paying much attention to his work, he'd become very good at ignoring idiots. Unless they rubbed him the wrong way of course...

One of students barked out a laugh and Kaiba temporarily lost his already-divided concentration. He glared at the kid and his friends, and they all took to staring at the floor.

Kaiba tried, once again, to give as much attention as he could to his work, but that certain someone interfered once again.

Stupid Yugi.

At first, defeating Yugi hadn't seemed like it would be too hard. After all, he had only beaten Kaiba because of a lucky draw with Exodia, right?

And he'd come close to beating Yugi in Duelist Kingdom; if only Yugi hadn't drawn that kuriboh at the last second... Actually, in all rights he **had**beaten Yugi... Okay, so maybe it hadn't been entirely legitimate, but still...

During Battle City, Kaiba had come so close once again to obliterating Yugi with his Ultimate Dragon, but Yugi had played Dark Paladin to save himself!

Each and every time Kaiba had completed his strategy and each and every time Yugi had overcome it somehow at the last second. Yugi continued to humiliate him over and over again.

Yugi, who preached about friendship and the Heart of the Cards , deeming that _those_ were the keys to his strength. Yugi, who claimed he was a five-thousand year-old pharaoh and even went so far as to say that he, Kaiba, the president of Kaiba Corp., was a five-thousand year-old priest.

Thinking about it made Kaiba sick all over again.

'How could I lose to a lunatic like that? By losing to Yugi, it had given him even more initiative to try to convince me I'm some sort of reincarnation and to talk about "destiny".'

But, as far as Kaiba was concerned, destiny was what you made it. Maybe if Kaiba had won in the first place, Yugi would have learned to keep his nut case opinions to himself!

...Well, maybe not. Kaiba had beaten Wheeler multiple times, but Joey still as much of a loud mouth as he ever was. Kaiba had a feeling Yugi would be exactly same.

'He'd probably have tried to pull that "it was your destiny to defeat me" crap on me,' Kaiba thought in disgust.

Still, if he could just beat Yugi, Kaiba would have accomplished his goal and he could finally move on with his life... Like the way Kaiba had put the memory of his stepfather behind him at Battle City...

Kaiba finally closed his laptop, conceding to the fact that he wasn't going to get anymore done before school started.

Kaiba allowed his attention stray to the large group of people that had just piled into the room.

'Oh, great.'

"You shoulda seen da way I clobbered Tristan, Yug'. I beat 'im in like, two seconds."

Speak of the devil.

"I got skills," the blond concluded, grinning broadly.

"Skill? Luck's more like it!" the blond's friend argued, raising his fists as if getting ready to fight.

Yugi and his friends, having some sort of pointless argument as usual, it seemed. Not that that was really out of the ordinary.

Kaiba's eyes wandered over the various members of the group. The blond dog(Wheeler), Miss Friendship(Téa), Tristan(Kaiba hadn't come up with a name for him yet), and the ghoul-obsessed schizophrenic(Bakura). Kaiba didn't know all that much about Bakura except what he'd seen at Battle City. Like Yugi, he always acted like he was possessed by some ancient spirit.

Kaiba rolled his eyes slightly at the thought as his gaze fell on Bakura. Bakura, as always, seemed to be off in his own little world, not paying attention to his friends' bickering.

Kaiba glanced at Yugi and his other friends, not really interested in what his rival was doing, but not having anything better to do. Yugi was apparently trying his best to agree with what both Tristan and Wheeler were saying, while trying stop a fight at the same time.

What was surprising to Kaiba was the fact that Yugi's friend Téa didn't try to help. That girl always had to be a part of what her friends were doing, but she kept staring at the floor, then glancing up at her friends, then looking at the floor again.

Kaiba found this puzzling, but then, practically anything Yugi and his friends did could probably be easily classified as "puzzling".

'Oh, well. Not my problem,' he thought. So instead, he got out his homework and waited for class to start.

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please r & r. Constuctive criticism is always welcome! n.n So are flames.


	3. Advice and Puppy Love

Mostly Joey/Téa in this chapter

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

chocoryou: I'm glad you think their in character. I was afraid they'd come off kinda OOC'd. As for not getting to the main plot, well, I think I need to change my summary. I have most of this written in my planner and Amane isn't even seen until chapter 7. Oou (Note: Amane still isn't seen in chapter seven since I tend to cut chapters that are too long in half)

Anyway, thank you so much for reviewing... It means so much to me.

Chapter 3: Advice and Puppy Love

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"You shoulda seen da way I clobbered Tristan, Yug'. I beat 'im in like, two seconds," Joey said enthusiastically. "I got skills." He looked exceedingly pleased with himself as he said this.

"Skill? Luck's more like it!" Tristan said indignantly.

The two friends continued to argue like that for awhile. But Téa wasn't really listening. Instead, she kept staring off into space and, after a while, she blinked, bringing herself back into reality, then took to staring at the floor. She glanced up at her friends and blushed.

'How can he still act so normal?' she thought. She'd never thought that hiding how he felt was one of his talents, but maybe...

Last night he'd told her how he felt, looking so serious and giving her a nervous, almost hopeful smile, his blond hair falling into his face...

But did she feel the same way? She'd always looked at her relationship with Joey's as being that of a good friend only and the one she reserved feeling for had always been the spirit of the puzzle. But, somehow, that didn't sound right anymore. For instance, she hadn't gotten nervous or excited around the pharaoh like she used to in a long time... but she'd always thought that it was because she hadn't seen much of the Pharaoh recently, since he and Yugi had been spending so much time at the museum recently...

Téa was temporarily jarred from her thoughts by Malik's arrival. He had a sort of bored look on his face, as he usually did while he was at school.

Téa remembered how freaky it had been for everyone when Malik had first come back to Domino from Egypt. All of the friends had enough memories from the Battle City Tournament to keep them from being too eager to welcome Malik with open arms, but Yugi, remembering instead how Malik had said that he hoped that the next time they met, it would be as friends, insisted that Malik be their friend.

As it turned out, Yugi was right in that Malik wasn't all that bad when he wasn't controlling people's minds or trying to take over the world.

Still, there were times when Téa couldn't help but think that Malik hadn't completely gotten over his terrible past... whether it be when he was the torturer or the tortured...

"Hi, Malik!" Yugi chirped, bringing Téa out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Malik," Tristan and Joey said, seeming to have resolved their differences for now.

"Hi, Malik," Bakura and Téa said in barely audible voices.

"Is something wrong, Téa?" Yugi inquired, looking over at Téa in concern.

She smiled and shook her head. "No, I'm fine." When her eyes fell on Joey she found he was staring back. Her eyes dropped to the floor and she felt her face redden. She did feel something in return... but what about the Pharaoh?

Yugi gave Téa another worried look and looked like he was about to say something else, but before he could utter a single sound, the warning bell rang and they all had to go to their desks.

Téa let out a sigh of relief. She felt a little guilty, though. Poor Yugi was just worried about her after all... But at least now she could continue her worrying in peace...

Even when the teacher came in and started talking about some assignment that was due in a couple weeks, she was really thinking about her own problem. She tried to think out the consequences for whatever her decision was, but one thought lead to another and after a while she realized she was thinking in circles.

In the end, she decided that this was too big of a decision to make on her own, so she resolved to get her advice from... somewhere. But who? The first person that came to Téa's mind was Mai, but she couldn't ask Mai since, chances were, Mai liked Joey too...

After Battle City, Téa (and probably everyone else too) had thought Joey and Mai would be together especially with the whole psycho-Malik/Winged Dragon of Ra affair.

To ask Mai something like this would be base treachery... but then, would going out with Joey be just as treacherous? But Téa knew that if Joey really loved her and not Mai, it wouldn't do anyone any good to pretend she didn't have feelings, would it?

Téa needed Serenity's opinion on this. She decided to visit Joey's sister after school, since she knew it would drive Joey (and not to mention herself) crazy if she didn't make a decision soon.

The rest of the school day went by VERY slowly for Téa. She wished school would end so that she could go resolve this. It didn't especially help matters when her friends kept asking her if she was all right over and over again. She tried to tell them she was fine, but, for some reason they didn't seem to believe her. She was glad for their concern, but she would have rather had time to think alone instead. She was glad when Joey stood up for her and said he believed her when the others asked her if she was alright for the tenth time that day.

However happy she was for Joey's help, so glad was she when the final bell rang, she was out the door before anyone else in the class and didn't even bother to stop by her locker on her way out of the school.

Téa took a city bus to the apartment complex the Ishtars lived in, almost missing her stop, since she'd only been here once before when they were helping the Ishtars move in.

Serenity was staying with the Ishtars while she visited Joey because everyone knew she wasn't safe staying with their drunken dad.

At first, Joey hadn't seemed too thrilled about Serenity sleeping under the same roof as Malik, but when Duke offered to let Serenity stay with him, Joey had whole-heartedly agreed with Ishizu that Serenity would be best off staying in the Ishtars' apartment.

Téa knocked lightly on the door.

After a moment, Ishizu came to the door looking more than a little surprised. "Hello, Téa... Is something wrong?"

Téa winced slightly. The fact that Ishizu thought that the only reason she would come to their house was if something was wrong made her feel guilty.

"No, nothing's wrong," Téa assured her. "I just came to talk to Serenity."

"Oh, I see. I might have known. Here, I'll take you to her, right now." Ishizu turned around and gestured for Téa to follow her.

Téa thought she detected a bit of disappointment in Ishizu's voice... Could Ishizu be lonely?

Ishizu showed her to Serenity's door which was closed and then went back into the other room, leaving Téa alone.

"Serenity... are you in there?" Téa asked tentatively, knocking softly on the door.

"Come in!" a voice called from inside the room.

Téa opened the door cautiously and stepped inside.

A girl with auburn-colored hair was sitting on the edge of her bed with a book in one hand. "Oh, hi Téa!" she said, smiling brightly.

"Hi, Serenity," Téa said, smiling back. "Uh... I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She glanced nervously at the book.

"No, of course not! You're welcome anytime Téa," Serenity, assured her. "Come and sit down." As she said this, she made a slight gesture to the spot next to her.

Téa obeyed, going over to sit on the peach-colored comforter. Téa began to play nervously with her fingers as she tried to think of a way to put what she was about to confide into words. She'd thought about it all day, but she hadn't come up with anything satisfactory, yet.

"So what brings you here?" Serenity asked, finally setting her book down on the lamp table next to her bed.

"Well..." Téa began. "I actually came here to get your advice on something..."

"My advice? Why?" Serenity gave her friend a puzzled look. Serenity had always seen Téa as the strong one who gave advice rather than receive it.

"Well, you see..." Téa then proceeded to tell Serenity about what Joey had said all her worries about what would happen if she consented to be his girlfriend. What would Mai do? Hadn't Téa liked Yami before? How would Yugi react?

When Téa finally finished, Serenity let out a long sigh. "Well, I don't know what advice to give, except don't make the wrong decision, Téa."

Téa smiled, wincing slightly at the same time. "Well, gee, thanks, Serenity. That helps a lot."

Serenity sighed again, looking greatly upset. "Well, I-I don't know... Just give me a second to think..." Serenity stared at the floor for a moment before saying, "Oh, Téa... I'm just not good with this type of thing. I wish... you could get advice from Mai or something..."

"But you know I can't talk to Mai, Serenity!" Téa cried.

Serenity looked on the verge of crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just don't know... It will hurt one person I love either way..."

This made Téa suddenly feel guilty. She hadn't realized how hard this would be either way for Serenity until that moment. "Oh, I'm sorry, Serenity..." Téa said sincerely. "I know I shouldn't have brought this on you... I mostly just wanted someone else to know..."

Serenity still continued to look more afflicted than Téa herself actually felt. "But... I really want to help you Téa..."

"Hey, Serenity?" Téa said tentatively. "You'll still be my friend no matter what I choose, right?"

"Of course, Téa," Serenity said, giving her an amazed look. "I wouldn't give up our friendship for the world."

Téa couldn't help but smile, "Thanks, Serenity."

There was a short silence before Serenity decided to take another shot at helping Téa with her decision. "Uh, yeah... So your main problem is you can't decide between Yami and Joey, right?" At the same time, she was also trying to bring the conversation back to a lighter note.

"Yeah... part of it anyway." Téa had been worrying about her friends' reactions that she hadn't really thought much about this part of the problem.

"Okay... um, I think I've got something to solve that part, anyway..." Serenity seemed to be struggling for a moment before she regained a look of composure.

"What is it?" Téa asked, suddenly feeling kind of nervous.

"Just... Just do as I say, okay?" Serenity requested. suddenly looking a little embarrassed. "Okay, picture both of them in your mind..."

Téa closed her eyes thinking of Joey and Yami. A little voice in her head told that she already knew, but if that was true, it would create all sorts of problems... Maybe this would prove that little voice wrong... "Got it," she whispered.

"Um... all right, now think about their good qualities- no!" Serenity said quickly in an attempt to correct herself. "Not their talents, but their personalities. Which one do you think is a better person? Which one do you get along with best?"

Those were actually hard questions. Joey and Yami were both her best friends, but Téa came up with her best answers, anyway. They weren't straight forward one-or-the-other type answers, but they were as close as Téa could come and still be honest.

"Which one cares more about you and what you think? Which one would put you before a job or material things?"

Unfortunately, those last ones were all too easy. Would that little voice win after all?

"Which one do you really love that way, Téa?"

Téa stared at the floor. So that was it... She could no longer hide from her feelings and it would be stupid to try, she realized. Without even realizing it, her decision had already been made for her. In fact, it had been made for her before she had even thought about going to Serenity's house, no matter how Téa had tried to deny it...

"Thanks, Serenity," Téa said quietly. "That really helped me sort out my feelings. I think I understand now..."

Serenity grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... I actually read this in a magazine once, but I couldn't remember most of the questions."

"What would you be doing reading a magazine like that? Having trouble deciding between Tristan and Duke, hmm, Serenity?" Téa said, grinning mischievously, as she brought herself out of her gloomy reverie. She wasn't about to let this control her. Life would move on... even if it wasn't very pleasant for a while...

"No," Serenity answered quickly, going bright red. "No, it was just... I..."

"Oh, I'm just kidding, Serenity," Téa said with a laugh, but gave Serenity a wink all the same. Téa stood up and stretched. "Anyway, I think I better get going now. Thanks for supporting me, Serenity. I gotta go tell Joey my decision..." As Téa headed toward the door, Serenity stood up.

"I'll see you out, then..."

"Don't bother," Téa said, smiling. "I think I've caused you enough trouble for one day."

"Well, okay," Serenity said, sitting back down, looking a little confused. "But it wasn't really any trouble, Téa..."

As Téa headed down the hall toward the exit door, she froze when she reached the living room.

Ishizu, looking slightly nervous, said something about having to get back to work and left the room.

There, standing by the door was a familiar blond with dark brown eyes and mop-like hair, still in his blue school uniform. He blinked several times, looking stunned.

"Téa," he said simply.

"Joey," Téa said, just as simply. It was now or never...

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Please r & r! n.n Flames and constructive criticism are welcome.


	4. Thoughts of Jealousy

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

aibou means "partner"

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 4: Thoughts of Jealously

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Yugi sighed deeply. How could his life go so wrong?

'It should be raining outside,' Yugi thought. That would, at least, match his mood. But of course, it was bright and sunny and everything was smiling. Everything except him and his darker counterpart, of course.

"What's so special about_ him,_ anyway?" Yugi said savagely, then stopped himself. "No, I shouldn't say that. I should be happy for them."

/That would make one of us then, Aibou,-/ Yami said, snappishly, from inside his soul room. It made him mad that Téa and Joey would just go off and completely forget Yugi's feelings like this.

/I guess... I guess I really am happy for them in my heart, it's just that... it's so hard to be _completely_ happy.../ Having Yami on his side made him feel less like he had to be spiteful toward his two friends Joey and Téa.

/Yugi.../ Yami said quietly.

/I just thought Téa and I would be.../ Yugi started.

/And that's what I thought, too,-/ Yami agreed.

/Mai'll probably be even more upset than I am.../ Yugi said and the thought suddenly made him feel a little guilty.

/I don't think it's possible to be hurt more than you are, Yugi,-/ Yami said, trying to keep Yugi from feeling guilty on top of everything else.

/I mean, I thought Joey and Mai... after Battle City and all.../ Yugi knew he shouldn't be thinking about himself.

/Are you even listening to anything I'm saying?-/ Yami asked, sensing that his partner had gone off into his own little world.

/Maybe I should go comfort Mai... But wait, she doesn't know yet does she? She's out of town. Hmm... Oh, I'm sorry Yami, did you say something?-/

/Never mind.../ Yami muttered, feeling a little annoyed.

/But didn't you like Téa, too, Yami?-/ Yugi asked.

/What? No. I am only angry because you are,-/ Yami said quickly.

Yugi grinned, feeling a little better. /I'm not really angry. Seems more like _you're_ the angry one. What could that mean?-/

/No./

Yugi laughed softly. /I think you're in denial. Besides, you can't hide anything from your other half, Yami./

/Well... if I did have any of these... feelings you've been describing it's only because I'm a reflection of you, Aibou. If I have any feelings they come from you./

/Sure, I believe you,-/ Yugi said, not sounding entirely impressed.

/No, seriously, Yugi!-/ Yami cried, a little desperately.

/You know, that means we used to be rivals. Cool./

/Cool? What cool? And we were not rivals./

/We both liked Téa; I'd say that made us rivals./

For some reason that Yami couldn't quite understand, this conversation seemed to be giving Yugi great amusement, while, on the other hand, it was just giving Yami a headache. /I told you, you're feelings would have simply rubbed off onto me. If I even had them in the first place, I mean./

/It's okay, Yami. We aren't rivals anymore because Téa chose Joey over us./

/You really are not all right, are you, Yugi?-/ Yami said in his authoritative voice, trying to steer the subject from himself and back to Yugi.

Yugi saw what his yami was trying to do and quickly answered/Only because you're not. Your _jealously_ is rubbing off onto me./

/...Sorry I asked,-/ Yami muttered.

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"Oh, ow. I've got a serious migraine," I muttered under my breath.

I would have liked to have gotten an aspirin or something, but I didn't keep any. In fact, the extent of my medical supplies consisted of a first aide kit.

Hmm... maybe most people with psychotic yamis would at least keep some Tylenol around...

But it wasn't that that was bothering me. When I'd come home from a grueling day at school today, I'd received a rather unpleasant surprise in the mail.

'Just don't think about it,' I told myself as I went into my room, so that I could make an attempt to sleep it off. Even with the pounding in my skull, the strain of the day allowed me to drift easily into oblivion.

When I awoke, the sun had just barely begun to set. The pink and orange rays flooded the room giving everthing an almost eerie glow.

I grudgingly realized that I couldn't put off thinking about it any longer. I groaned slightly. What would I do now? If I couldn't stay in this apartment much longer...

Apparently, when the manager realizes you can't pay rent, he decides you can't stay there anymore.

The person who normally paid for my apartment (my father) didn't send a check this month, but I'd kind of been hoping that the manager would give me a break.

Honestly, is it normal for a manager to send you a letter telling you to move out by day after tomorrow when you missed paying the rent that was due YESTERDAY? But I suppose that he's been looking for an excuse to kick me out ever since he heard about all my friends mysteriously going into comas... But after all, they all recovered, didn't they?

Still feeling indignant, I started to pack. After awhile, my thoughts began to stray back into despair. Where would I stay now? I knew that the most practical solution was asking one of my friends if I could stay with them, but I really didn't want to do that. A part of me said that it was because I didn't want to interfere in their lives. The other part (the part that was more like my yami) didn't want to be reduced to _leeching_ off them.

But I knew that it was either that or going back and asking my father if I could stay with him. That would be ten times worse, since I suspected that when the mysterious comas started, he was just as frightened of me as the other people with jellyfish spines at my various schools.

But still... what if none of my friends would take me in? After all, they had all their own problems without adding me into the mix. I'd have to make sure I asked the right person... but who? Not Joey because of his dad, not Tristan because I didn't really know him that well, and not Téa because I somehow doubt that her parents would approve. But who did that leave?

There was Yugi and his Grandpa, plus the Ishtars were now living in Domino. I couldn't imagine asking Malik if I could stay at his probably over-crowded apartment, so I decided to ask Yugi.

'Yugi won't say no,' I assured myself.

After I'd finished packing and separating the stuff I absolutely needed from the stuff I planned on getting rid of, I ate what supper I could force down and went to bed.

As I laid in bed staring at the ceiling, I went over what I'd do tomorrow (which, just so happened, was a Saturday, so I wouldn't have to go to school at least).

First, I had to throw away or sell -if any of it was worth selling- anything that wasn't a real necessity. Then I had to ask Yugi if I could stay with him at the Game Shop for awhile. If he said no, that would mean I'd have to ask the Ishtars.

If they said no... well... I guess I could ask Duke. After all, with that large game shop, he surely had a guest bedroom somewhere in his house. But then again, I hardly knew Duke since we didn't have any classes together...

/Dear Ra, Ryou. Just go to sleep!-/ my yami said waspishly, cutting into my thoughts.

/Sorry, I'm just worried,-/ I said, still feeling a little off-balance after being startled.

/About what? If the pharaoh doesn't want us, I can just steal some money. Actually, why didn't I think of that sooner? I'll just steal some tomorrow. Then you can pay that stupid mortal so you can stay here./

/Yami, I don't think-/ I started to say.

/On second thought, I'm not wasting my energy so you can give money to some idiot. Never mind. That last idea won't work./

/Thanks, anyway,-/ I muttered, rolling my eyes. But even though I'd never admit it, somehow, that really did make me feel better.

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please r & r. constructive criticism is welcome.


	5. Goodbye Apartment, Hello Game Shop

Wow. it's been almost 2 weeks since I last updated; I feel so guilty!

Thank you animeloverj and VSSAKJ for reviewing! Sniff... I'm so happy.

Thank you animeloverj, for pointing that out. I've changed it. n.n

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 5: Good-bye Apartment, Hello Game Shop

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"And when Malik wakes up, ask him if he wants to come help us at the museum, alright? Bye, Odion."

"Goodbye, Ishizu," Odion answered.

Ishizu left their apartment room and headed down the stairs toward the Ishtars' small yellow car. It was the only one on the lot that looked like it had gone the entire length of the Sahara and back without getting washed once.

But even so, Ishizu knew she had to be grateful that they even had a car with how tight money had been recently... But all the same, maybe they should still get it washed.

So she drove to Domino Museum, like she did everyday. She worked there mostly as a curator which wasn't entirely unbearable, but sometimes she had to fill in for some tour guide who couldn't be there for some reason(which was practically every other day, considering how reliable their tour guides generally were). As far as Ishizu was concerned, being a tour guide must have been something invented by Ra to punish evil doers. Each group never failed to have at least one smart mouth who felt the need to poke fun at one exhibit or another which Ishizu found irritating since it was usually something immature or stupid.

One thing that kept her from losing her mind or getting too stressed out was the fact that Yugi and the Pharaoh usually came into the museum after school to observe the various ancient Egyptian customs and especially to look at the Tablet of the Pharaohs for about the millionth time. Occasionally he gave her some help when she really needed it, but that was usually Odion's department.

The Pharaoh spent more of his time looking over the various Egyptian artifacts, wondering if he'd ever used anything that looked like them in the past he couldn't remember. Ishizu was glad of his company, but lately he seemed more moody than inquisitive. Ishizu suspected that this might have some correlation to Joey and Téa, but it really wasn't any of her business, so she didn't bother to ask him.

When she reached the museum, she was a little surprised to see Yugi already waiting outside the museum.

"You're here a little early this morning, Yugi," Ishizu observed.

"Yeah, I didn't sleep very well last night," Yugi answered, standing up.

So Ishizu opened the museum and let Yugi in. The museum didn't really open this early, but she always let Yugi and the Pharaoh in anyway.

Odion came a little while after the museum had been opened like he always did. Ishizu was always grateful for this since it meant that Odion would take over when she left a little early to go to her part-time jobs.

Ishizu was a little surprised to see that Malik had come along. Since when did Malik willingly spend his Saturday at the museum? She could only pray that it wasn't so that he could cause trouble.

She didn't have much time to ponder what mischief Malik was up to since she was called away to fill in for another tour guide that was apparently had to stay at home because of some convenient illness. If whoever it was was **really** sick Ishizu would steal her Millennium Necklace back from Yugi and bury it in a landfill, but what could she do? It wasn't like she had any real way to dispute it... Of course, she wasn't going to fill in as a tour guide until after she finished rearranging the entire Egyptian insect collection, so that the insects went in alphabetical order. Something that the museum owner wanted apparently. It wasn't the first bizarre, completely unnecessary thing that the owner had wanted done with the museum either. It was when he made these outlandish requests that Ishizu couldn't help but agree with the names that Malik had given him, none of which were very nice. Still, Ishizu had never actually met the owner in person, before...

After giving a tour to a group of teenage(not to mention lewd) boys, an old woman who seemed to think knocking the glass cases with her cane was mandatory, and a little girl who had candy crammed into every pocket of her rather large coat and was letting it overflow onto the floor(either her parents didn't notice or didn't care), Ishizu was taking a well-deserved break in the lobby, sitting on a bench next to the gift shop when a familiar white-haired teen caught her eye.

She wasn't really in the mood to talk to anyone, so she tried to pretend she hadn't noticed him, but unfortunately, he noticed her and hurried over.

Ishizu mentally groaned, but felt guilty right afterward. She knew it was rude not to want to talk to one of her friends, but she really didn't feel like doing anything right then. Hopefully he wouldn't ask for any favors like a free tour or something. But then, Bakura would probably be more respectful than the average person considering his position and personality...

"Hello, Bakura," she said, trying to smile.

"Hello, Ishizu," he anwered. His soft British accent always made him sound so respectful that Ishizu couldn't feel too angry that he'd interrupted her relaxing time.

But no matter how nice Bakura seemed, Ishizu always remembered the evil spirit from Battle City bent on world domination, even if now he was an ex-evil spirit that used to be bent on world domination. Ishizu found it all kind of creepy, especially since she hadn't forgotten about when he'd come to the museum in order to steal her Millennium Necklace...

"So... what brings you here?" Ishizu asked, bringing them out of the silence, and also trying to be friendly. After all, it wasn't fair to judge the real Bakura by what his other half had done in the past. Her brother and his insane alter ego had proved that beyond all doubt.

"Well... I needed to talk to Yugi. Is he here?" Bakura looked rather uncomfortable as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

Ishizu sighed mentally. 'And all this time I was under the impression that he'd come to see **me**...'

"Yes, he is here. He should be in the room with the Tablet of the Ancient Pharaoh," she told him. That was the room the Pharoah was in ninety percent of the time, after all...

"Oh. Okay, thanks." He was looking uncomfortable again and just continued to stand there.

"Do you know where that is?" Ishizu asked, guessing the problem half-heartedly.

Bakura looked slightly relieved, but embarrassed at the same time. He shook his head.

Ishizu would have thought that his yami would know where it was seeing as how the last time he'd been here, that had been the only thing he'd been interested in besides the Millennium Necklace.

"I'll show you where it is. Please follow me," Ishizu said, trying her best not look too irritated as she got to her feet. She distantly felt like she was starting another tour. 'Why can't I ever have a break?' she grumbled mentally.

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"I'll show you where it is. Please follow me."

I followed Ishizu quietly for a while. I was feeling a little stupid to have to have her show me where the room was, since I'd never had time to see it myself. Plus, I felt a little intimidated since I got the feeling Ishizu wasn't in a terribly good mood.

I was seriously grateful that it wasn't_ her_ I was asking for a place to stay.

/You know, Ryou, I knew where that tablet was./

/What? How would you know?-/

/Well, during Battle City I came to this museum while I was tracking a Millennium Item- which, come to think of it, was probably Ishizu's- and the Millennium Ring led me to the tablet before it lost the force.../

/I don't believe this. You _knew_ and you didn't tell me? No wonder she's angry!-/

/I'm sorry. I would have shown you if you'd asked,-/ my yami said under a mask of sickly false-innocence.

/Be quiet./ I felt my face redden. He was such a jerk sometimes, making me feel so stupid like that!

I glanced at Ishizu. It was one thing to pull something like that around Yugi or the guys, but I barely knew Ishizu and I also found her kind of intimidating. I could only hope that she wasn't **really **annoyed. Maybe she didn't know that my yami knew where the tablet was... Somehow that seems to be a pretty far-fetched hope when considering someone who had had the ability to see the future...

"Er, uh, sorry about this..." I said, feeling even stupider.

She didn't even look at me.

"So, you're a curator here, right?" I asked, not exactly sure why I was trying to start a conversation with someone who seemed that they would like nothing better to slam my head against a wall.

Ishizu ignored me again.

I took the hint and didn't say anymore after that.

When we reached a sectioned off part of the museum, Ishizu led me down a staircase to a lower level.

Of course my yami _would _have just ignored the big sign saying "employees only"...

Luckily, I didn't have to dwell on that thought for long because I caught sight of Yugi sitting on the floor staring at the tablet. Although the glazed look in his eyes indicated that he wasn't really looking at the Tablet.

As soon as we entered the room, Ishizu turned around and exited without giving me enough time to even say thank you. At the same time, I couldn't say that I wasn't kind of relieved.

I cleared my throat and the spiky-haired boy stopped staring into space for a moment and blinked. He turned his head and over his shoulder. At this point, I noticed that it was Yami and not Yugi. He smiled.

"Hello, Bakura. Something wrong?"

I shook my head. How could I ask the _Pharaoh_ something like this? Yugi was one thing, but...

I swallowed hard. "Um, uh..."

"Don't worry. You can tell me _anything_, Bakura."

Somehow, that didn't make me feel any better. I told myself severely that if I didn't ask him, the Ishtars were next on the list.

"Yugi... I mean Other Yugi..." I started, flushing immediately. "I, well, can't stay in my apartment anymore." I hung my head.

After a moment of pondering how the Pharaoh would react to this, I forced myself to look up. To my surprise, Yugi had taken control.

He looked at me with an almost sympathetic confusion. "I'm not sure I understand, Bakura."

I shook my head slightly, trying to muster my courage a second time. "I... don't have any money and I... needaplacetostay," I finished in a rush.

Yugi grinned. "Oh, Bakura! Why didn't you just say so? Of course you can stay with us!"

"Thank you," I breathed.

"Come on, let's go to the Game Shop right now." Yugi grinned at me again. "It'll be great!"

Yugi's apparent enthusiasm made me feel better about this; it made me feel like Yugi wasn't just accepting out of obligation, which was almost as scary a scenario as him rejecting my request.

He started to walk towards the staircase, then stopped. He turned around to grin sheepishly at me. "Oh yeah, I guess you probably need to get your stuff first, huh?"

I grinned back, starting to feel better about this whole thing. "Yeah, we can just stop by my apartment."

On the way from my apartment to the Kame Game Shop, however, I started getting nervous, again.

"Um, Yugi? You don't have to feel bad if you're grandpa won't let me, stay at the shop," I said, thinking Grandpa might still be a little afraid of my yami(after my yami knocked him out while we were at the hospital...). Everyone else in our group was after all. They all trusted me when I said he'd changed, but that didn't stop them from trying to avoid crossing paths with him as best they know how.

"Don't be silly, Bakura!" Yugi said reassuringly, jarring me from my thoughts. "Of_ course_ Grandpa will let you stay. Why wouldn't he?"

I stared up at the sky. "I don't know. No reason, I guess." I didn't see any real reason to enlighten him on the subject.

Yugi looked at me with concern, but didn't say anymore.

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please read & review! constructive criticism is always welcome as are flames.


	6. Pride and Housework

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 6: Pride and Housework

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"Hi, Ishizu. Welcome back."

Ishizu glanced over at the soft-spoken brunette and sighed slightly. "Hello, Serenity."

"Have a long day? You look exhausted," Serenity commented.

"No longer than yesterday," Ishizu muttered, then added out loud, "I'll see you later, Serenity, all right?"

"Okay, bye," Serenity answered before Ishizu left the room, probably to go get ready for one of her part-time jobs.

Serenity had noticed since the beginning of her visit that Ishizu was always stressed with her job and with money issues. Naturally, she'd tried to talk to her about it, but Ishizu insisted that she was just still getting used to the move from Egypt.

Still concerned, Serenity tried to help as much as she could by helping around the house. Not that her help counted for much of anything since Odion always seemed to be on top of everything in that department.

There were times when Serenity couldn't help but compare Odion to a machine, working at the museum all the time and still managing to do housework, but it made her realize that he was probably doing it all for Malik.

Speaking of which, Serenity didn't see much of him since he was almost never home. Not that Serenity minded especially; he kind of scared her after Battle City and all...

But lately, she'd been running out of things to do more and more. She'd been spending most of her time with Joey originally, but ever since he started going out with Téa...

Serenity knew that it probably wasn't right to be jealous of her brother's girlfriend, but she couldn't quite help it; she'd helped Téa decide after all. But it was so boring here all by herself, since Serenity didn't go to school here in Domino and Mai was still out of town. But even when Mai came back, she might not be her old self when she found out about Téa and Joey...

All these complicated thoughts almost made Serenity wish that Malik would come home to help to distract herself...

Never mind; she'd just call Duke and Tristan instead.

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"So you can have this room, okay, Bakura?"

"Thank you, Yugi," I answered, smiling in appreciation.

I took my things into the small room and glanced around.

After a moment, when I sensed that Yugi expected me to say something, I said softly, "Yes, thanks again. This will be fine, Yugi." I gave him a reassuring smile.

He smiled back, looking slightly relieved. "Okay, I'm going to go downstairs now. Whenever you're finished unpacking feel free to come down. We can play a game or something."

"Alright, see you later then."

Yugi left and I heard him traveling down the stairs to the main Game Shop area.

Yugi's grandpa had agreed to let me stay with hardly any convincing at all. Yugi hadn't seemed the least bit surprised, but I'd sure been. But it wasn't any use to dwell on the subject; at least I had a place to stay.

So I started transferring my clothes from my bag to the small dresser and the even smaller closet. I decided to keep my Monster World set (yes, my Monster World game was an absolute necessity) in my suitcase, since I doubted I'd be needing it very soon.

So I went downstairs to find Yugi helping his grandpa put a new shipment of games on the shelves.

Yugi noticed me standing there looking out of place and gave me a grin. "Oh, hi, Bakura! Done unpacking already?"

I grinned sheepishly back. "Yeah... So is there anything I can do to help?"

Yugi suddenly looked a bit nervous. "Oh, don't worry about it Bakur-" he said in a rush, but was cut off by his grandpa.

"Oh ho ho ho! I'm glad you asked. I need the whole store swept, dusted, and mopped." Grandpa Mutou gave me a huge smile.

The _whole_ store? Shocked, I tried to find some indication in his expression that would show me that he was kidding.

"Grandpa!" Yugi cried, looking equally shocked and maybe even a little horrified.

"What? He offered," Yugi's grandpa defended.

Yugi glared at him slightly and then turned to me. "You don't have to do any of that, Bakura. After I'm done here, we can go play a game or something."

I swallowed. I really didn't want to do all Grandpa Mutou had told me, but at the same time, I was the one invading their privacy, wasn't I? Besides, I didn't have to feel like a leech if I earned my stay...

"No, that's quite all right. I'll do it," I said, forcing a smile.

Grandpa looked like Christmas had just come early while Yugi gave me a hard look. "You don't have to feel like you have to earn your stay here, Bakura. It's okay, really."

And of course, Yugi knows exactly what I'm thinking. "I don't feel that way," I lied. "I just want to help."

He studied me for a moment. I could tell he didn't believe me.

"Well, okay. I'll come and help you if Grandpa and I finish before you do."

"Okay, thanks, Yugi," I answered, feeling a little guilty. I hadn't meant to create more work for him...

I tried to finish quickly without rushing through the jobs. I really didn't want Yugi to have to help me, since he already did so much around the shop; he wouldn't have to feel inclined to help me if I hadn't accepted in the first place...

Grandpa Mutou instructed me to dust first and not to start mopping until he closed the shop. Dusting all the games that probably hadn't been dusted since they were bought about a million years ago took a lot longer than I expected it would, since I kept accidentally smudging the merchandise and the smudge was a lot harder to get off than the dust had been initially.

When I finally finished, it was well after closing time and I was dirtier than the rag I'd been using(apparently, Grandpa Mutou had put the feather duster on display for some reason). Yugi had offered to help after he finished like he'd promised, but I insisted that I was fine.

After I'd finished I sat on the floor for a while. I had to sweep and mop next and I'd probably miss supper. I felt sick with guilt and exhaustion. I felt terrible for having to sponge off Yugi and his grandpa like this, but I couldn't do anymore... I sorely wished that I'd taken Yugi's generosity at one point or another...

I put my head between my knees.

Why did my father have to completely forget about his son? It wasn't fair. Yugi's grandpa cared about him, didn't he? So why can't I...?

"Bakura?"

I leaped to my feet immediately, ignoring the ache in my back from having to bend to reach the merchandise closest to the floor. "Oh, uh, hi, Yugi..." I stuttered, hoping against hope that he hadn't seen me moping on the floor just now.

"Bakura, come on, let's go get something to eat," he said kindly.

"Actually, I, um, haven't quite finished yet..." I said quietly, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Oh, forget about it, Bakura!" Yugi said exasperatedly. "Come _on_." He said the last bit a little forcefully.

"But I already said I..." I started.

"Then do it tomorrow. Come on, Bakura. It's me, Yugi. You don't have to work to stay here. It's okay." He gave me an impatient, almost hurt look.

I smiled slightly. It was so nice having such good friends. "Thank you, Yugi." I felt better, but I still wasn't completely convinced. I still felt guilty and... and something else I couldn't quite identify. "Well? Let's go eat something now, shall we?"

He grinned broadly. "Yeah! Now you're talkin'. Hey, that reminds me..."

I glanced at him questioningly. "What?"

"We haven't done anything as a group for a while, you know? With us and Téa and the guys..."

I nodded, not exactly sure where this was going. "You're right, Yugi."

"I mean, ever since Téa and Joey..." he trailed off into a rather uncomfortable silence.

I raised an eyebrow. That hadn't been that long ago. We kind of stopped hanging out as a group when Yugi and the pharaoh became so engrossed in the past. They were the ones that tied most of us together after all. I didn't say anything, though, since I realized that Yugi was probably still bitter against Joey and Téa.

He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before he snapped back to reality. "So, anyway, I was thinking that we should all get together as a group at the mall tomorrow. I'll even invite the Ishtars."

The Ishtars? I wonder if Ishizu will still be mad at me...

"That's a great idea, Yugi. So... can we get something to eat now?" I asked, grinning slightly.

Yugi laughed. "Oh yeah, I forgot. So what do you want, Bakura? Anything in particular? We have rice... and more rice and..."

Later that night, as I laid in bed even with a full stomach, I found that I just couldn't get to sleep.

How could I stay here? I felt like I was in debt and had no way of paying it back... But that wasn't the only reason I knew. I couldn't exactly put it in words, but...

/Oh Ra, Host. Are you still worrying about how to repay little Yugi?-/

/What? No.../ How does he always manage to startle me like that?

/You're an idiot. I thought you were all such good friends. You treat little Yugi like a stranger./

/We_ are_ close friends, Yami. I'm just-/

/Incredibly arrogant? Caught the Seto Kaiba syndrome, have we?-/

I bristled. What did he mean by that? -/Be quiet. I'm going to sleep now./

/That's it, isn't it?-/ my yami said quietly, the amused tone draining from his voice. /You're just too proud to accept this kind of help from little Yugi./

/No! Just go away./

/Heh, heh, heh... Looks like someone is in denial./

I closed my eyes tightly. I was **not** proud No way. Of course I wasn't. That wasn't it. No.

And yet... there was still that little voice in my head, besides my yami's, saying, "But what if, Bakura? What if...?"

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please read and review! constructive criticism is welcome and so are flames. n.n


	7. At the Food Court part 1

It's been almost a month since I last updated. O.O Guess the guilt finally got to me.

openoffice writer wasn't working for about a week, and after that... well... to be honest I've been feeling kind of lazy lately. n.nU

Thank you, Jastoz for reviewing! n.n I've fixed the 'intimacy' problem and words don't run together as often. Most typos have been fixed...

This represents a conversation going on between a yami and his host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -..

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 7: At the Food Court, Part 1

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"Come on, Malik! Now, or we'll be late!" Ishizu called impatiently.

"I'm coming, Ishizu!" Malik yelled back. He grabbed a white T-shirt and pulled it over the same black muscle shirt he'd worn in Battle City. He ran out of the apartment door and down the long flight of stairs to find Ishizu and Odion already in the car.

Ishizu leaned her head out the window and gave him a rather annoyed look. "Well, Little Brother? Are you coming or not?"

"Why can't I just take my motorcycle?" Malik asked. If he had his way, he'd never be seen within a hundred yards of that filthy, little, yellow car.

"I already told you, because I'd rather the little money I earn be used to put food on the table rather than to buy gas for your motorcycle. Now hurry up!" Ishizu answered exasperatedly. It was only about the hundredth time they'd had this conversation.

"Okay, okay!" Malik said, before getting into the car. "What a stickler," he muttered.

So the family headed toward the mall, ready to meet Yugi at the food court like they'd agreed. Yugi had invited everyone in their group of friends to go out to eat at the mall that day saying it was because he felt like they hadn't done anything like that in a long time.

Malik couldn't help but be surprised that Yugi had invited Ishizu and Odion, too. Malik was happy Odion was going, but he felt a little nervous about Ishizu going. It was like they'd invited his mother or something... He seriously hoped she didn't find a way to embarrass him somehow.

Yugi had also invited Serenity, but she said she'd come with Duke and Tristan. Serenity had been acting a little strange lately. Since when did she willingly put herself in a situation that gave Duke and Tristan the chance to fight over her?

But Malik wasn't especially interested in Serenity's problems and when the three arrived at the mall parking lot, all thoughts on this matter were wiped from his mind as Ishizu reminded them for the sixth time that day not to order that much.

"I _know _already... Why do you always look at me when you say that?" Malik grumbled indignantly.

Instead of answering, Ishizu got out of the car and headed toward the mall building with Odion close behind.

Malik, still feeling a little sulky, locked the doors of the car and meandered leisurely after them.

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I drummed my fingers on the table, wondering if everyone Yugi had invited would show up. Yugi had gone through with the plan to have the whole gang go out for lunch and Yugi and I were waiting at the table nearest the entrance of the mall, so that our friends would be sure to see us. So far, no one had shown up yet, but then again, Yugi and I had come a bit early.

Yugi grinned suddenly and gestured for me to look behind me. "Bakura, look! Our first arrivals."

I turned to look over my shoulder and, sure enough, Malik, Odion, and Ishizu were all heading this way.

Yugi stood up. "Come on! Let's go greet them."

"But... shouldn't someone stay here and hold the table?" I asked, trying not to sound like I had some ulterior motive.

Yugi looked startled for a moment. "Oh yeah, I forgot. You stay here, Bakura."

'My thoughts exactly,' I thought. I was still feeling a little embarrassed about the episode at the museum... Even if nothing had really _happened_ that was especially painful to remember, Ishizu really had seemed kind of ticked off at me...

Yugi ran off to greet the new comers, while I continued to watch the crowds for more of our friends. I glanced at my watch. They weren't due for a few more minutes, but still... was _everyone_ going to show up at the last minute?

When Yugi came back with the Ishtars, I did my duty and stood up to greet them.

"Hello, Bakura," they all said in turn.

I was relieved to see that Ishizu wasn't wearing that taunt expression she'd had on yesterday. "Hello..." I answered them.

"Aren't the others here yet?" Malik asked, turning to Yugi.

"Nope! Besides Bakura and I, you're the first ones here. It's still a little early, though," Yugi answered.

Malik shot Ishizu a withering glance for some unknown reason, but Ishizu ignored him.

Yugi and I sat back down at our table. Since the square tables were only made for four people, the Ishtars found their own table to sit.

Yugi started to search the crowds again, but suddenly he went rigid and took to staring at the table.

I didn't have to wonder about this for long since our next arrivals came and sat at our table.

"Hello, Téa. Hello, Joey," I said, feeling I ought to fill in for Yugi at this point.

"Hi, guys!" Téa said with a forced cheerfulness that even I could detect, grinning at me and over at the Ishtars, but avoiding looking directly at Yugi.

"Yeah, hey everybody," Joey greeted, also avoiding looking at Yugi.

Joey and Téa started to talk and tried to get Yugi to join the conversation, by talking about Duel Monsters and various other games. But despite their efforts, the Pharaoh (who had apparently taken over at some point) continued to determinedly ignore them. Instead he just kept glaring at the floor.

Finally, Joey and Téa gave up and threw consideration to the winds and started talking to only one another, so that even if Yugi and I had wanted to, we couldn't really get involved in their conversation.

Yami was so tense that I was starting to think he'd explode if I didn't do something soon (Téa and Joey were somehow completely oblivious). But I was rescued from the necessity of saving Yami from doing something he'd regret later when Tristan, Duke, and Serenity arrived.

"Yami," I whispered, touching his shoulder tentatively.

"What?" he snapped.

Instinctively, I recoiled my arm. "Look," I said quietly. I gestured in the newcomers' direction.

He seemed to recover from what he'd been thinking about and said, "Okay, let's go greet them, then."

We hurried over to the trio of Duke, Tristan, and Serenity. It seemed like it had been a while since I'd last seen Duke.

"Hello, everyone," Yami said, all traces that he'd been acting like Oscar the Grouch a few seconds before completely gone.

"Hi, guys," I echoed, barely audible.

After the three returned our greeting, Duke was the first to speak. "Sorry if we're really late, but we had some car trouble and almost didn't make it..."

Before Tristan could make any comment meant to degrade Duke in front of Serenity, Yami said quickly, "No, you're just in time. Actually, not everyone's here yet, but feel free to choose a table..."

So the three found a table right next to the Ishtars and I went back to my own table where Joey and Téa were sitting. However, Yami didn't join me. Instead, he took a position in the center of the three tables and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

No one seemed to notice except the newest arrivals and me. Tristan evidently felt the need to remedy the situation because, after a moment of Yami standing there, seemingly hoping someone would notice him, he yelled, "HEY! Listen up, everybody!"

Everyone noticed that. Although, some were inclined to pretend that they hadn't, or at least pretend they didn't know the idiot with pointy, brown hair who, by now, had the attention of everyone within a six-table radius.

Yami waited until the strangers had turned their attention back to their own business before he began, chuckling a little. "Ahem, now that I have your attention, I want to say that we're almost all here, so we can go get something to eat now..."

This was greeted by cheers from at least one person from each of the three tables.

"...Three of us will stay here to save the tables while the others order," the Pharaoh finished.

I looked over at Joey and Téa. "I'll save this table here, don't worry."

Joey grinned at me broadly. "Okay. Thanks, Bakura!" He stood up and took off toward some hamburger place.

Téa followed Joey a little bit less enthusiastically, looking a little bit embarrassed, but mostly she seemed to think it was cute.

"Uh... anytime..." I mumbled.

Odion, Malik, Serenity, Tristan, and Duke all got up and headed toward various restaurants.

I noticed Yami was holding the Serenity, Duke, and Tristan's table.

I wonder if he'll come back over here when they return... Somehow, I found that doubtful.

I glanced over at Ishizu, who was holding the Ishtar table apparently. She was looking stressed again, but at least she didn't look particularly angry like she did yesterday. Maybe I should try to cheer her up sometime... Then again, I had my own problems to deal with.

Suddenly, a blond figure moving through the crowd caught my eye. When she caught sight of me, she grinned slightly and hurried over to my table.

"Hey, Bakura."

"Hello, Mai," I answered, returning the smile. "I haven't seen you in a while. When did you get back?"

"That was only yesterday. See, I was over at the Ishtars' visiting Serenity when Yugi called..."

She visited Serenity first thing? I wonder if Serenity told her about Joey and Téa...

"I see," I answered.

I really hope Serenity _did_ tell Mai because I certainly didn't want to be the one to break it to her.

"You know," Mai started, taking a seat next to me. "When I look for you guys in a crowd, I usually look for Yugi's red and black pointy hair, but this time I saw your white locks first." She gave me a wink.

I blushed and grinned sheepishly. "It's good to know that I'm still useful for something."

Mai glanced around, taking notice of her friends sitting at the other tables for the first time. "Hey, why aren't you guys sitting together?" she asked.

"Actually, we're saving the tables while the others get something to eat," I explained. It suddenly occurred to me that Mai might not want to sit with Joey and Téa. That was only if she already knew; if she didn't already know, that would probably be even worse.

"Oh, uh..." Mai suddenly looked rather embarrassed. "That wouldn't mean this seat is already taken, would it?"

I glanced over at Yami, holding the table for Duke and the others. "No, you're fine," I answered.

I went back to worrying about what I should do. Should I tell her that Joey and Téa were sitting here, or would that be too awkward?

Just then, Duke, Serenity, and Tristan came back. Tristan could hardly carry everything he'd ordered, while Duke and Serenity were more conservative.

After a few minutes of agonizing over it, I decided against saying anything. Mai would just have to find out on her own...

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Please r & r! Feel free to comment, flame, constructively criticize... n.nU


	8. At the Food Court part 2

O.O Wow. That took a lot longer than it should have. I should be updating faster now that I'm on summer break, but I'm just so lazy... -.-U

This is mainly based on the anime as far as plot and character personalities are concerned, but sometimes I bring some things from the manga in. Like VSSAKJ said before, Amane isn't mentioned in the anime. (If you're confused, it's probably because I changed the story summary so that it doesn't mention Amane anymore, and I'll probably be changing it again very soon seeing as how the summary really has nothing to do with the plot line...)

telepathic communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

CHAPTER 8

Mai probably wouldn't want to sit with Joey and Téa, but I didn't really think it was my place to intervene. She'd just have to find out on her own and make a decision then.

"Oh, hey Mai," Serenity said, stopping next to our table.

Maybe if Serenity sat here, Joey and Téa would sit someplace else.

"Hey, Hon. How've you been?" Mai answered, smiling warmly.

"Um, okay, I guess," Serenity answered, looking rather uncomfortable. I realized that she's drawn the same conclusion as I had when she started to say, "Hey, um, Mai... you know you're sitting..." She began to fidget nervously.

"Yes?" Mai pressed.

"No, it's nothing," Serenity said quickly, evidently making the same decision I had, as well. "Um, I'd better go now before my food gets cold." With that, she headed back to Tristan and Duke's table looking a little upset.

When Malik and Odion came back a few minutes afterward, they gave a brief "hello" to Mai before heading back over to their own table to sit with Ishizu. They set a bag in front of her, so I supposed that she'd had them order something for her.

That was smart. Why hadn't Yugi and I done that?

Just then I saw Joey and Téa approaching our area. Mai caught sight of them as well, and as she looked around at our tables a look of realization that this was the only table with two seats available came over her. She gave me a dirty look that I pretended not to notice. I guess that answered the question of whether she knew about Téa and Joey or not.

"Uh, hey, Yami. Here," Joey said, sounding a little nervous as he set a bag in front of the spirit.

I'm not feeling especially smart right about now.

"Thanks, Joey," Yami answered a bit icily, finally snapping out of his trance.

Joey and Téa came and sat at our table, neither one making eye contact with Mai.

"Hello, Joey. Hello, Téa," Mai said, staring at the two with narrowed eyes.

"H-Hey, Mai," Joey and Téa said, looking like for the life of them, that they could be anywhere else.

When Mai finally took her gaze off the two she pretended to give all her attention to the people at the nearby tables.

Téa and Joey shared a glance, then looked guiltily at Mai. I noticed that Joey was looking a little angry and indignant as well, like he was about to say something.

Somehow, I doubted that whatever Joey was about to say could possibly help matters, so I decided not to be there to hear Mai's reaction. "Okay, Chaps, I think I'm going to get something to eat now." I stood up, pushing my chair away from the table. "Care to join me, Mai?" I asked, thinking she might also want escape from this situation.

"I'm not hungry," she said coldly, continuing to let her eyes wander over the people at the other tables.

"Um, okay. See you guys later then," I said nervously. Maybe her whole goal was just to make Joey and Téa feel uncomfortable...

So I wandered through the food court, looking at the various restaurants. Some of the food that might have looked appealing when I'd first came held no interest for me now.

My friends were not getting along the way they used to, but what could I do? Mai and Yami were both hurt by what Téa and Joey did and it looked as if Joey and Téa almost felt worse. How awful was it to see the people you cared about, who were normally such good friends, hating each other?

After several minutes of pointless wandering in and out of the other people in the food court, all laughing and having a good time, I decided against buying anything and returned to our area.

When I spotted our table, I noticed that it seemed Joey hadn't said whatever it was he'd wanted to say. I decided, instead of standing here waiting for something to happen, that I sit someplace else. But where? The only table with an available seat besides that table was the Ishtar table and I seriously didn't want to sit with them, not to mention it would be kind of rude just to invite myself over. I took notice of an empty table near our three tables and decided that that was the place to sit.

As I went over and sat at it I couldn't help but think, 'Well, this is certainly a lot of fun.' But just at that moment, someone called to me.

"Hey, Bakura!"

"Um, yes?" I said, straightening and turning to look at the source.

"Why are you sitting all by yourself?" Malik asked, giving me a smirk. "Wanting some privacy for a conversation?"

I decided just to ignore that last part since he was probably referring to my yami. "Uh..."

Malik grinned and gestured toward the empty chair at his table. "Come sit here."

I swallowed slightly. I hope this isn't some trick to make me look stupid. Then again, Ishizu probably wouldn't let him. Unless she's still mad about yesterday.

"Come on. What're you afraid of? It's not like I'm gonna bite you or anything."

"I certainly wouldn't put it past you," I muttered under my breath.

Malik's grin broadened, but he didn't comment. Instead he asked, "Weren't you sitting with Wheeler before?"

"Yeah," I said, not sure how I was going to explain this to him if he asked for an explanation.

"Oh," he said, shrugging. He didn't look entirely satisfied, but he seemed to realize that I didn't really want to talk about it. Instead he started eating again and talking to Odion.

I glanced over at Ishizu. Might as well try starting a conversation to see if she held grudges.

"So... do you like your work at the museum, Ishizu?"

She looked up from something she'd been working on, apparently startled. "Oh, um, it's fine," she said.

Why was I finding that hard to believe? "Do you still duel sometimes?" I asked.

"Not since Battle City," she answered, sounding almost curt.

"Oh. I haven't dueled in a long time either," I said uncomfortably.

/Heh, heh, heh. She doesn't seem terribly interested does she?-/

/Hush, Yami,-/ I said. I was having enough trouble with this conversation, let alone two at the same time. /It's your fault she's mad at me, Yami./

/I doubt she's mad at you, Vessel. It's probably so routine for her to be in a bad mood, that she doesn't even remember./

Did he really think so?

"So, uh, maybe we could get together sometime and have a duel or something..." Ick. For some reason, that almost sounded like I was asking her out on a date or something...

She shrugged, looking back down at her work. "Maybe."

"So you used a Light deck in Battle City against Kaiba, right?"

"That's right," she answered.

So much for that conversation. Maybe she _is _still mad... Or maybe she's just not interested in having a conversation with a seventeen-year old...?

"So... so what kind of deck do you use, Bakura?" Ishizu asked. She didn't even look up from what she was working on, but at least she'd finally decided to talk to me.

"A fiend deck mostly, with cards like Dark Necrofear and Destiny Board," I could have gone on and on about mine and my yami's deck, but that wouldn't have shown all that great of conversational skills. Maybe she'd tell me about her deck instead.

"Oh, yes, I remember that now," she said a bit thoughtfully.

"I'd like to see your deck in a duel sometime," I said, going back to the suggestion that we should have a duel sometime. "What do you think?"

"Well... that sounds like fun actually," she said, looking a little awkward. "I hope I can find time between working at the museum and the various other part-time jobs..."

So did that mean Yami had really been right? That she was stressed out all the time? I always figured she was busy, trying to earn enough for everyone in their family to eat, but...

Ishizu got that almost thoughtful look again, before turning back to some papers she was working on and started scribbling away again.

"So... what are those?" I asked, not realizing how nosy it was to ask such a thing until after I asked it.

"Job application," she answered a bit curtly.

I guess it had to do with her 'various part-time jobs'...

I didn't ask any more after that. Instead, I turned my attention to the people at the other tables.

Duke was showing off some dice trick, while Tristan was trying trip him up, both obviously trying to get Serenity's attention. Serenity and Yami, however, kept sneaking glances at Joey and Téa's table.

I followed their glances just in time to see Mai jump up suddenly, her chair clattering to the floor. She whirled around and stormed off.

She had apparently had enough of whatever had been going on at that table.

I glanced at the Ishtars. Malik had looked up from the Duel Monster cards he'd been showing Odion a moment before, and Ishizu had looked up from her job application papers.

It took a moment for Malik to regain himself and get this little smirk on his face. "Wonder what it was they said to get her to just walk off and leave like that."

Ishizu turned her attention back to her paperwork evidently trying not to look especially interested and just Odion shrugged in answer to Malik.

I glanced over at where Mai had been sitting a few moments earlier. Joey just kept staring guiltily at the table, while Téa had started to stand as if she had an intention of following Mai.

But Yami beat her to it. By the time Téa had gotten to her feet, he was already out of the food court in pursuit of Mai, weaving his way through the crowd.

Ishizu stopped trying to act indifferent and put down her work. "I think we'd better go now," she said quietly to Malik and Odion.

"Uh, okay," Malik said, putting away his cards.

Ishizu turned to me and said tiredly, "When the Pharaoh comes back, tell him we had a good time, but we needed to go now..."

"Oh, yeah," Malik said, smiling brightly. "I just love arguments."

When Serenity saw that the Ishtars were leaving, she stood up and attempted to go with them, but Tristan and Duke insisted on taking her home themselves instead.

Téa and Joey were now the only ones left and they looked sick to their stomachs. Joey's rather large portion of food lay forgotten on the table as he stared unblinkingly at his hands. Téa looked like she was on the verge of crying.

After a few more moments, Joey and Téa stood up. Téa mumbled something to me about how they should probably go now. As they walked off, I thought I saw Joey put his arm around Téa.

At this point, I didn't want to be rude, so I focused my attention elsewhere. When would Yami come back? Would Mai come with him? Not that I was especially anxious for him to come back. I wasn't really looking forward to going back to the Kame Game Shop. Yami was sure to be ill-tempered when he came back and I _still _hadn't swept or mopped the shop yet like I'd promised...

I groaned slightly and hit my head against the table. Suddenly, something colorful on the floor under the table caught my eye. I reached down to pick it up and saw almost immediately that it was a Duel Monster card. For a moment I thought that this might be my lucky day when I realized sadly that it was probably one of Malik's cards. As I held it carefully in my hand, I took a look at the title to see if I recognized it.

"Vengeful Bog Spirit..." I didn't really remember Malik having that one, but then again, I'd never actually seen any of Malik's duels before. "I guess I'll just have to ask him at school tomorrow," I mumbled aloud.

/Not a good idea, Ryou,-/ my yami said, cutting into my thoughts.

/What? What do you mean?-/ I asked, feeling slightly confused.

/Even if it isn't his card, he'll say it is, just so he can keep it,-/ my yami informed me. /I propose we burn it instead./

/What? You're awful! Why should we burn a card that might belong to Malik?-/

He didn't answer for a moment. /...stupid instant attack.../

I sighed. I am resigned to never knowing how that yami's mind works.

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Please feel free to r and r! Flames are accepted!


	9. Special Delivery: Malik's Missing Card

communication between yami and host(hikari)- /.../

this means that the point of view (POV) is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

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Chapter 9: Special Delivery: Malik's Missing Card

"_After all, he** is** your other half." _

"_Wrong. I am complete without him."_

'What are these voices...?' Malik thought hazily.

"_You can't do this, Malik! We can still rule the world together!"_

"_I'm sorry, Master; I failed you again."_

"_Odion...!"_

"_It was **your** hate, **your** jealously, and **your** anger toward your father, which makes **you** just as guilty as **me**!" _

He let out a cry and sat bolt upright, sweat beading out on his face.

'A dream...' Malik gritted his teeth and swore under his breath.

Why wouldn't these dreams stop already? It wasn't like he hadn't gotten over what had occurred at Battle City, so why couldn't the dreams just... go away?

'It makes it hard to forget...'

He glanced at his alarm clock.

Malik sighed. 'Three in the morning? I just keep waking up earlier and earlier...' He knew that if he didn't go back to sleep now, it would mean he would be exhausted by the middle of the day, but he was already wide awake. Besides, (he felt like some stupid, frightened little kid even as he thought this) he didn't have any real desire to invite any more of those nightmares tonight...

So Malik got out of bed, turned on the lamp next to his bed, and got out his Duel Monster cards. He felt himself relaxing as he looked through the cards in his deck.

Even though most of them were the ones his yami had used in Battle City, Malik still found comfort in them.

As he was looking through a second time, caressing his favorites gently, he suddenly frowned. 'Wait a second...' He counted the cards, and then counted again.

"No way! One of my cards is MISSING!" he shouted.

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I walked into the school, feeling distantly like I'd been run over by a train. I still felt uncomfortable about staying at the game shop with Yugi and it seemed to be disrupting my sleep.

Then again, it wouldn't be the first time my yami decided to get my body up in the middle of the night. ...Somehow, that wasn't exactly a comforting thought.

When I finally got to my home room, I saw the others all talking, except Joey and Téa were standing a little apart. I felt a little bad for them.

When I saw Malik he wasn't with his friends, but sitting in his desk looking sleep-deprived and seriously ticked, I groaned and buried my face in one hand. "Oh, dear..."

My friends stopped talking and turned toward me, apparently noticing me for the first time.

"Hey, Bakura," they all said in turn.

"Is something wrong? You look kinda down," Téa said to me, looking worried.

I thought I saw Yugi give her a slightly annoyed look, as if he didn't think she had a right to be concerned for her friends. Then he looked guiltily at the floor.

I decided to pretend I hadn't noticed this. 'You don't look so good yourself, Téa,' I thought, remembering yesterday's happenings at the mall. She looked kind of pale...

"Oh... I found this card of Malik's at the mall and I was going to bring it, but I forgot-"

Malik was in my face in an instant. "Y-You found it? Where? Oh praised be Ra! Thank you!"

"I forgot it at the Game Sh- I mean, where I live." I changed it at the last minute so I wouldn't have to explain to them about my staying with Yugi right then.

Unfortunately, Yugi noticed my quick change and gave me a queer look.

I hung my head and flushed. I knew I'd probably hurt Yugi's feelings, but it was too late to change it. I'd just have to tell them all the truth later...

Malik gave me an odd look as well and said, "That's okay. I wouldn't have wanted to carry it around all day anyway. Listen, I'm going to the museum right after school, so just drop it by my house, okay? Ishizu should be home around four or something."

"Okay, I will," I mumbled, not taking my eyes off my feet.

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Ishizu sighed and rubbed her eyes. Strangely enough, when your brother wakes you up at three in the morning because he lost one of his duel monster cards, it leaves you feeling drained the rest of the day.

Malik was off doing who-knows-what as usual, Serenity was hanging out with Tristan and Duke, and Odion was still at the museum, leaving Ishizu all alone.

She sipped from the cup of coffee, enjoying the quiet before she had to go to that loud job as a fortune-teller in an hour.

Ishizu had so many different part-time jobs she almost couldn't see how she handled them all. The afternoons of Mondays, Thursdays, and the occaisonal Sunday were spent at her fortune-teller job and she worked at a fast food restaurant on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Of course, these were at least ten times harder after a day of working at the museum. She still had Tuesday evening free, but she was currently looking for a job to fill that spot.

She rubbed her temples and took another sip of coffee.

She knew she ought to be grateful that she was earning enough to make ends meet, but maybe it was still better if she didn't tell Malik and Odion that the fortune-telling job was at a bar.

Her peace and quiet (and her not-so-quiet thoughts) were interrupted by a knock at the door.

'Who could that be?' Ishizu wondered, standing up. She was more than a little surprised to see a boy with pale skin and long, white hair.

"Hello, Ishizu," he said.

"Ah, hello, Bakura," she replied, trying to smile. "What a pleasant surprise." Emphasis on 'surprise'.

"uh, well..." he looked a little embarrassed. "Malik left this card at the mall and he told me to drop it off here..." He handed the card to Ishizu.

'Ah, yes. The missing card Malik just **had** to find...'

Ishizu gave him a smile. "Malik was wondering where this card was; he'll be very happy."

For some reason that she couldn't quite explain, she felt disappointed. She hadn't been exactly enthused about seeing Bakura, but maybe she **had** been hoping at least a little that she'd have someone to talk to before going to work...

Bakura stood their uncomfortably for a moment before saying, "Um, okay then... Take care, Ishizu." He turned to leave.

"Wait," Ishizu said, so quietly that she wasn't sure he heard. She was so surprised with herself she almost didn't hear him reply.

"Yes?" he said quietly, looking over his shoulder at her with raised eyebrows.

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please r and r! Flames are permissible. n.n


	10. Duel and Memories

Hey, I posted again! I should be less lazy... I **was** competing at the Battle Frontier on my Emerald version(in the Battle Pyramid)... but I lost! I spent an hour trying to get to the top of the pyramid, but I lost one step away from the top. Just thought you might want to know. n.nU

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 10: Duel and Memories

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"Wait," Ishizu mumbled, barely audible.

I looked at her over my shoulder. "Yes?"

"We spoke of having a duel yesterday, didn't we?" she asked. "When?"

"Uh..." I'd forgotten about that. I hadn't really thought she'd actually want to, even if she _had_ sounded interested before. "I don't know... we could duel right now, I guess." I kept thinking about a game shop with a depressed Yugi and a slave-driver Grandpa Mutou... Speaking of which, I hadn't done that floor yet. All the more reason that a nice duel right now could be relaxing.

"I mean, if you're not busy," I added quickly, realizing it might be rude to try to force her into a duel right now.

"I'm free for a little over an hour," she answered.

"Eh, okay..." We both shifted uncomfortably for a moment before Ishizu ushered me inside.

"Do you have your cards, Bakura?" Ishizu asked.

"Yes," I answered. "Of course."

/Like I'd let you leave home without them,-/ my yami said.

I decided not to answer, determined to keep my focus off my yami, to make sure I didn't miss something Ishizu said.

Ishizu led me to a card table in what looked like their dining room. She gestured to it and said, "Sit there while I go get my deck."

So I sat down on one of the four folding chairs surrounding the table and pulled out my deck. I couldn't help but feel a little excited the way I always did when I was about to start playing a game.

I'd started to casually shuffle my cards when Ishizu came back, her deck in one hand. She sat down opposite from me and offered me her deck. I handed mine to her, and we began to shuffle the decks. We sat in silence for a moment before we handed the decks back.

"You should go first," I said, trying to be chivalrous as we drew our cards.

Ishizu drew a sixth card and started to study her hand carefully.

I was a little startled when she broke the silence by saying, "I've never heard much about your family, Bakura. Do they live with you?" Ishizu started to place cards in her magic/trap zone.

Such a question took me by surprise. None of my friends had really asked me about my family before. "No, I live in an apartment by myself." I winced slightly as I realized my mistake. I knew I should correct it right away, but I didn't really want everyone knowing... for some reason. 'I'll mention it if the subject ever comes up again,' I told myself.

"You're move," Ishizu said.

"What? Oh, yes." I'd been so lost in thought, I'd nearly forgotten. I drew a card and began analyzing the possible moves I could make. That... or that... or maybe...

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Ishizu asked.

The thoughts of possible plays in the game vanished. I finished my move quickly, trying to keep my hand from trembling. "I... I had a sister."

Ishizu drew a card and looked up at me. Maybe she'd heard the slight tremor in my voice.

"But she died when I was eight," I said quietly.

"Oh... I'm so sorry." Ishizu didn't seem to know what else to say. She looked like she felt a little guilty.

I shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal. "It's okay. I'm getting along." I always preferred not to get so emotional around other people, but especially not the stoic Ishizu.

"My mother died in childbirth when I was four," Ishizu said empathetically. "I only remember her a little," her voice carried a shadow of sorrow.

I glanced up at her. I'd never really thought of Ishizu as someone to really be sad about something... Did she ever wake up in the dead of night feeling sad and lonely about the person she'd lost...? Then again, she'd barely known her mother and Amane had been like my best friend.

We didn't try to have a conversation after that. Instead, Ishizu and I engrossed ourselves in the duel, distracting ourselves from disconcerting thoughts.

It didn't take a terribly long time before I realized Ishizu was probably going to win. Currently, we were stalemated since I had my Dark Necrofear on the field and she had her Soul of Purity and Light, but I could see she had a larger hand and more life points, not to mention her two face-down cards.

Dark Necrofear had more attack points than Soul of Purity and Light, but it lowered my monster's attack points by 300 during my battle phase so Dark Necrofear couldn't destroy it, either.

I drew. Hmm... Maybe I'd win after all. "I activate Tribute to the Doomed by discarding a card from my hand." Tribute of the Doomed would destroy her monster and leave her wide open.

Ishizu smiled slightly. "I'm sorry, but I was hoping you'd do that. I activate Solemn Judgment."

Oh, well. Solemn Judgment negated my magic card, but Ishizu had to give up half her life points as payment, which brought her beneath 1500- a little less than what I had.

"I end my turn," I said. Since Ishizu ruined my strategy, I left my Dark Necrofear in defense mode.

Ishizu gave me an almost sad smile as her turn began. "First I'll activate Stop Defense to switch your Dark Necrofear into attack position."

Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.

"Then I activate my Megamorph equip card. This doubles my monster's attack points, but only if my life points are lower than yours."

Uh-oh.

"Then I attack your Dark Necrofear with Soul of Purity and Light... and I'm afraid that brings your life points down to zero."

I blinked, stunned for a moment. Even though I hadn't really been expecting to win at that point, I still felt a little disappointed. "Good game," I said, forcing a smile and extending my hand.

She shook my extended hand and said, "It was rather close, wasn't it? I hope we can duel again sometime."

For some bizarre reason, her touch made me feel uncomfortable in not an entirely bad way. "Okay," I answered. I still felt a bit down after losing, but the fact that she thought it was close made me feel a little better.

/Tsk... I can't believe you lost,-/ my yami said, sounding sulky. /It's bad for my reputation. I hope no one else learns of this.../

"Anyway, I really need to go now," Ishizu said. "Maybe we could have another duel tomorrow. I don't have a job in the afternoon on Tuesdays."

"That would be fine," I said, trying not to sound too eager. I was looking forward to having another shot at winning.

I named a small coffee shop that I was rather fond of that we could use as a meeting place and Ishizu told me to meet her around five.

"Alright. Good-bye, Ishizu. I'll be waiting," I said quietly.

"Good-bye, Bakura," she answered.

So I walked away from the house, for some reason in a much better mood than when I had arrived.

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And that's it for chapter ten. This one's longer than chapter nine, but it's still pretty short...

Anyway, please r and r! both flames and constructive criticism are welcome, as always. n.n


	11. Enter Amane

I'm still alive! And this chapter's the longest chapter in this fic so far.

I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far(cause I've been rather negligent in than department, I think...)

Reviewers: chocoryou, animeloverj, VSSAKJ, Jastoz, Ann, Lady Frei (the start of Yami and Mai's relationship will be coming up in in a few chapters; don't give up on me!), KuraiBakuFan, and emma.

THANK YOU!

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Before you start you ought to know that I've changed all POVs to third person except Ryou. I've also gone back and changed the other chapters so that they match that same pattern. I'm sorry if you like it better before, but I decided that this would be the best remedy for the confusion with POVs.(Instead of sticking with the idea of just labeling each scene, I decided to do things the hard way. n.nU)

Chapter 11: Enter Amane

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"G' morning, Odion," Malik mumbled, stretching as he came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Master Malik," Odion answered, continuing to keep an eye on the meal he was preparing. "Did you ever find that card?"

Malik scowled as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "No, I didn't. I might have had better luck if **someone** would have lent me a hand..."

Odion sighed. "Master Malik, I'm certain that the card would not have become any harder to find, if you'd waited until today to look for it..."

Malik's scowl deepened. "Yeah, well, maybe I should skip school to look for it all the same..."

Odion gave him a sharp look. "You know what Ishizu would say."

Malik slumped down in his chair and hit his head on the table. "I wish I didn't have to go to school," he mumbled.

"You should consider yourself lucky, Malik. I'd love to go to school and see my friends instead of sitting around with nothing to do."

Malik lifted his head to look over his shoulder at the source of the soft, feminine voice.

"Hmph. Easy for you to say, Serenity. You don't have a mountain of homework due today," Malik sniffed.

"But she probably wouldn't put it off until the last minute either, Master Malik."

Malik tried to turn his look of surprise into a glare. "What was that? Darn it, Odion, you're starting to sound just like Ishizu."

Instead of replying, Odion decided that now would be a good time to turn his full attention back to fixing their breakfast.

"Oh, look on the bright side, Malik," Serenity said, coming to sit next to him.

Malik grumpily turned to look over at Serenity, once again. "What bright side?"

Serenity was trying hard to keep a straight face as she said, "I'm sure your teachers won't be any more upset than they were the last time this happened."

Odion quickly turned his laugh into a cough.

"Wha'd ya mean by that?" Malik asked indignantly.

So Malik was forced to go to school without Odion and Serenity giving him any hint that they might try to look for his card for him while he was gone. When he walked sulkily into the classroom, he noticed Yugi and the others, but when they tried to give a greeting (with forced cheerfulness, since none seemed to have forgotten the episode at the mall) he chose to ignore them and walked over to his desk instead.

Just as Malik was thinking about where the card could possibly have gone if it wasn't at their apartment, Bakura came into the room and the group of friends(although that might be a bit of a strong term at the moment) had a bit more luck with greeting him than they'd had with Malik.

Malik didn't pay him much heed until Bakura mentioned 'Malik's card'... Which, of course, was followed by an inquisition, a praise to Ra, and finally instruction to leave it at his house after school. Malik would have waited at his home for Bakura, but Malik was in such a good mood that he decided to go and help Odion at the museum after school. He'd been a bit hard on his step-brother that morning, after all.

The rest of the school day went a little faster than the average school day. Rather than every school minute taking two minutes of real time, the school minute was only taking about a minute and three quarters. Even with how bored he was, Malik refrained from doing anything to spice up the day with the exception of when he'd swiped Bakura's watch when no one was looking. Much to the Egyptian's disappointment, the only thing the pale boy did in retaliation was give Malik an irritated look and ask him for the the watch back after class.

Malik was so happy to be out of school, he decided, despite his sister's ban, to take his motorcycle to the museum. He rationalized that he didn't have any other transportation and Ishizu wouldn't mind it just this one time... Well, as long as she never found out about the **other** times...

When Malik arrived, he was a little relieved to see that the dirty, little yellow car was gone which meant that Ishizu had already gone home. Malik found this a little odd, since Ishizu didn't have any jobs she had to go to on Tuesday. 'She's probably just taking a break,' Malik thought. Ra knew she needed one as Ishizu had been acting sort of testy lately...

Malik went into the museum to look for Odion. It didn't take too long for Malik to spot the imposing form of his older stepbrother, talking to a middle-aged man with purple hair and a small ponytail and a young girl with bluish-white hair that hung freely down her back.

Malik's first impression was that this girl looked like a younger, more feminine version of Bakura, but he knew that that was ridiculous. Even so, these people had piqued his interest, so he wandered closer to them until he could just make out what was being said.

"...and I want it prepared immediately," the purple-haired man was saying.

"Your wishes will be granted as soon as possible, but it will take some time," Odion replied.

"Fine. But I want it finished by Tuesday after next, Mr. Ishtar," the man said. "I look forward to seeing it." Without so much as a good-bye, the man sped off toward the exit.

Odion left too, looking a little strained, Malik noted and Malik made to follow him.

"Father?" the girl said, looking up at the purple-haired man.

Malik's stomach gave a jolt in the realization that she even had the same **accent** as Malik's white-haired friend... But he had to hear her voice again to be completely certain... He stopped walking, listening intently.

"May I stay and look at the exhibits for a while? I've never been in an Egyptian museum before..." The girl looked up at her father almost pleadingly.

Her father didn't look entirely enthused about the idea. After a moment he let out a sigh. "Well, alright, Amane..."

Amane gave the man a benign smile. "Oh, thank you, Father!"

Malik knitted his eyebrows. What could this mean?

He shook his head and started to turn away. It wasn't like Bakura was the only person in the world with a British accent, after all...

Amane's father gave her a stern look. "But you musn't linger too long. We need to find Ryou soon, before..."

"Yes, Father, I know," Amane interjected.

Malik froze. 'Ryou... that's Bakura's first name!'

Amane's father left telling her that he'd be back in an hour and Amane immediately went off in the opposite direction, presumably to go look at some Egyptian artifacts.

Malik started to walk away to go find Odion, telling himself that Bakura wasn't the only person in the world who's first name was Ryou; although this was quickly becoming a rather weak argument considering all the facts Malik had accumulated. But that didn't necessarily mean he **cared**...

As Malik started to head off in the direction Odion had gone, he tried to keep himself from thinking questions like: But if these two people were really looking for Bakura after all, then why? And why was it so urgent to find him so quickly?

Malik frowned. He really didn't want to get involved in this... But a part of him was a little afraid that she'd leave in an hour and he'd never get his questions answered.

After a few minutes, Malik finally made his decision. It took him a quarter of an hour to find the girl standing next to a glass case, observing some oddly painted canopy jars.

By this time, Malik was starting to have second thoughts about his decision, but a feeling in his gut told him that he ought to find out more. Being a duelist, Malik had learned to go with his instinct.

Malik went to stand next to the girl and pretended to be deeply interested in the relics that were made to hold some dead pharaoh's organs. After a few moments of the girl not showing the slightest inclination to look over at him, he spoke. "Hey..." Malik said quietly, trying to get her attention.

The girl made no response whatsoever except maybe to hunch a little closer to the glass panel.

"Hey," Malik repeated, a little louder this time.

At this point, the girl started to edge away, all the while avoiding looking at Malik.

Malik was starting to feel irritated, but also a little triumphant at the same time; he felt the same way someone felt when they'd been persuaded to do something that they hadn't wanted to do in the first place and it had gone badly.

Malik decided, instinct or no instinct, that he didn't want answers to his questions so much that he'd speak to some girl who thought he was some kind of freak... Malik started to walk away.

Malik's natural instinct was to blame the fact that he'd wasted so much time on someone else, but really the only thing he could blame was his curiosity. Even so, Malik couldn't help but be a little angry at the girl for thinking him some kind of stalker. Even Malik could see that his anger was completely irrational, but at that moment it didn't matter to him. Before he even had the pretense of thinking it through it, he had turned around and found himself saying spitefully, "Sorry. Just overheard your father say you're looking for a Ryou, and I thought he might mean my friend Ryou Bakura." The moment the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it.

The girl looked up at Malik in amazement. "Y-You know Ryou?" she asked in a whisper.

Malik didn't answer, suddenly feeling a little panicked. What had possessed him to say **that**? Now she'd demand that Malik help her locate the white-haired boy.

Amane suddenly seized the front of Malik's shirt and brought her face about an inch from his, not unlike the way Malik had done with Bakura earlier that day. "You_ must_ tell me where to find him!" She looked up at Malik with imploring eyes.

"N-Now hold on a second!" Malik cried. So startled was he by this sudden boldness that he momentarily forgot his anger. Malik grabbed her wrists and tried to pry her off. "I don't even know where he lives-" Malik said, which was a rather convenient excuse, but true all the same.

"But you could get in contact with him, couldn't you? If he's your friend..." The girl let go of his shirt and stared at the floor.

The adrenaline rush Malik had had a few moments before from being angry and then being startled had begun to ebb away and so Malik now felt only faintly irritated. Malik **still** didn't much care for the way this was going, though. While it **was** true that he could just call Yugi and ask, Malik still wasn't interested in helping this girl even if it would be helping Bakura as well.

Malik turned around and started to walk away, mumbling angry curses under his breath.

The girl looked stunned for a moment before taking a few steps forward and crying, "W-Wait! I-"

Malik turned his head and gave the girl a slight glare that silenced her immediately. "Wait for what? I thought you wanted to find Bakura."

Amane's look of desperation was replaced with a look of confusion. "I- What?"

Malik let out an irritated sigh. "You seemed so hyped up about finding Bakura a few seconds ago, but if you don't want me to call the person that would know where to find him..."

Amane suddenly grinned broadly. "Oh, please do! Thank you, thank you, thank y-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." Malik said, cutting her off. 'Ra, she sure is hyper active...' Malik thought. Why hadn't he considered the possibility that she'd ask him to help her in her search when he'd been deciding whether or not to ask her before? Then again, he probably wouldn't have minded so much earlier when he was in a better mood...

So Malik weaved his way through the crowded lobby until he reached the small phone booths. He wished he could have just given the girl the phone number as he took a look at the long line of people. But he knew that if he'd done that, Yugi probably would have refused to give some strange girl that kind of information and so naturally she'd have come back to Malik...

Malik, rather than wait, promptly started pushing and shoving his way to the front of the line. He chose to ignore the complaints and curses from the more patient citizens, since if he didn't, he'd have done something he'd have regretted later on.

When he finally reached phone, he realized in annoyance that it was a pay phone. It was too late to go back and make the girl pay for the call, so Malik had to scrounge around in his pocket for the few yen he'd been keeping in hopes of getting a soda sometime. Malik remained oblivious to the people waiting in line as they exchanged looks of exasperation and outrage.

He stuck the coins into the slot and dialed little Yugi's number. The tone rang several times before someone picked up.

"Hello, you have reached the Kame Game Sh-"

Malik didn't have to ask who it was for he recognized the voice. "Cut that out, Yugi. It's me, Malik," Malik said crossly.

"Uh... oh hi, Malik!" Yugi's voice crackled over the phone line. "Is... something wrong?" Yugi seemed to have picked up Malik's tone of voice.

"No," Malik said firmly. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it, Malik, that it couldn't wait until school tomorrow?" Yugi asked, sounding rather unenthusiastic.

"Where..." Malik didn't finish for a second. Suddenly, what he had come to ask didn't sound especially brilliant. But Malik knew that it was too late to turn back now and rationalized that he could always give Yugi full details about this situation later. "Do you know where Bakura is right now? Or how to find his apartment or something?"

"Malik, what-" Yugi started.

"I'll tell you later!" Malik hissed into the phone. Malik knew that this probably sounded like it was some confidential thing that couldn't be said over the phone to anyone listening, but he wasn't in the mood to play Twenty Questions.

"Well, uh, I don't know where he is right now, but he should be coming back to the Game Shop later this evening..." Yugi said, sounding a little uncertain.

That was good enough for Malik. "Thanks, Yugi," he said into the phone, sounding less than thankful, before he slammed the receiver back down on the cradle. With that said, Malik marched off to tell the girl what she wanted to know.

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Please r & r. Even if it's just to say, 'I was here! I read it!' Constructive criticism and flames are welcome.


	12. Dejection and Agreement

Well, here's chapter 12 finally. I meant to get this out before I started school again(first few days of high school...), but I was busy doing, um, something productive. And yes, reading discussion boards and posting ideas on them about whether or not Snape is a good guy or bad guy counts as 'something productive'.

Moving on...

Thank you for reviewing UnknownDarkMystery! And I also thank you Lady Frei for your patience. n.n

I believe that that's all I have to say at the moment.

communication between host(hikari) and yami:- /.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 12: Dejection and Agreement

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"So... tell me, I know you grew up in a tomb, but what was it like?"

"Rather like growing up in a normal home except without sunlight, television, or ice cream." Ishizu gave the pale boy sitting across from her a faint smile.

Bakura and Ishizu were sitting at the small café where they'd agreed to meet the previous day (Ishizu had even got the car washed for the occasion). The two dueled several times, occasionally taking a sip from their glasses of water as they held conversation, mainly about things like family, Duel Monsters, and politics.

Ishizu wished she'd gotten to know Bakura long before this. He seemed so mature for his age(more mature than her little brother at any rate) and he sincerely sounded interested when he asked her about her life in the tomb...

'I wish we could continue to meet like this...' Ishizu thought wistfully as she played a monster in face-down defense mode. She would just have to hope that the fact that Bakura hadn't won a single game so far wouldn't make him disinclined.

"So where is it you live exactly?" Ishizu asked lightly as she studied her hand again. "You live in an apartment don't you? Which complex would that be?"

Bakura went a bright shade of pink as he summoned his Headless Knight. "Yes... I mean no! No, I..." he trailed off, still looking embarrassed and perhaps even a little ashamed.

Ishizu looked over her cards at him questioningly. "Yes?" she prodded.

"No- I... um, moved." He stared determinedly down at his cards, his face still flushed. "I use Headless Knight to attack your face-down monster..."

Ishizu raised her eyebrows. He'd moved yesterday? Would that be right after their duel? Or maybe he was just afraid that Ishizu might come and visit him if she knew where he lived...

At this less than cheerful thought, Ishizu turned her attention back to the duel, revealing her Banisher of Light which was too powerful for Bakura's Headless Knight to destroy.

'But Bakura wouldn't... _lie, _would he?' Ishizu asked herself, unable to divert her attention for long. Bakura didn't have to come to this café or duel with her if he really didn't like her, so it wasn't like she was some pest to him, right? Or... maybe...

'No,' she told herself firmly. Thinking like that just made her sick...

"Okay... I'll activate Graceful Charity, so I draw three cards and send two to the graveyard... but since Banisher of Light is on the field I have to remove them from play instead..." As Bakura made his play, Ishizu thought she caught a note of dejection, like he wished he were somewhere else.

Against her will, that one thought rose within her again. What if Bakura only felt sorry for her? What if she'd unknowingly made him feel guilty when she'd mentioned all her part-time jobs... so he thought she was depressed and was just being charitable... Or worse, perhaps Bakura felt that she was clinging to him, like she was just a bother who wouldn't leave him alone...

Ishizu had been so lost in these rather upsetting thoughts that it took a moment before she realized that Bakura had finished his turn. Bakura didn't appear to have noticed this, however, as he kept staring at the table, lost in thought as well.

Ishizu's hand shook slightly as she drew and, without really taking time to think about it, summoned Zolga. For one sudden, reckless moment, she ordered her monster to attack Bakura's Headless Knight, ignoring his face-down card. She was a little surprised when the attack successfully sent Bakura's card to the out-of-play zone.

Several more turns passed with neither one really paying much attention to the duel. It was only after Ishizu happened to catch that Bakura's face-down card had been Rush Recklessly that she realized that the duel wasn't going to have a satisfying outcome for either of them if they weren't really thinking about their moves. So Ishizu decided to put an end to the increasingly uncomfortable situation, even if she was reluctant to since she doubted Bakura would be willing to do this again...

"It's getting rather late," Ishizu said, as she glanced at a clock on the counter that read in large, red numbers 7:42 P.M. "Perhaps we ought to end the duel now?"

Bakura shook his head slightly as if bringing himself out a deep reverie. "Yes, I suppose..." For some reason his agreement didn't sound too enthusiastic, but Ishizu assumed that this was probably wishful-thinking on her part. "I have school tomorrow," Bakura added, again sounding unenthusiastic almost like he was trying to convince himself.

"Yes, and I have work..." Ishizu put in, then cringed mentally at the thought.

"Yes... Well, it was fun... perhaps another time..." Instead of finishing, Bakura sat there for a moment before climbing to his feet and gathering his cards. "Good-bye then."

Ishizu mumbled her good-byes in reply. Bakura had started toward the door, when Ishizu was hit by a wave of dread. A sixth sense sort of feeling... A voice telling her that she'd regret it forever if she let this meeting end on such a sour note...

Ishizu stood up and called softly. "Bakura?"

Bakura stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. He still had traces of that half-guilty, half- embarrassed expression. "Yes, Ishizu?"

"I'm sorry if it was something I said..." Ishizu began awkwardly. "But I want to ask if you'd still consider a request I have..." Her eyes dropped to the floor momentarily before she forced herself to look back up at him. If she truly was just some 'tag-along' in-need-of-a-friend type to Bakura, this wasn't going to help her much, but if she asked, it might reveal at least a little of what was going on inside his head.

"Perhaps we could meet again next Tuesday... ah, every Tuesday..." As soon as the words had left her mouth she immediately began to rethink her decision. But it was too late for second thoughts now. She tried to convince herself by thinking, 'But it would be so nice to have something to look forward to every week.' She, hoping against hope that Bakura wouldn't give her 'please don't make me' look, felt wistful again as she thought of this.

Bakura's down-hearted expression was temporarily replaced with a surprised one.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to pressure you if you don't really want to..." Ishizu said quickly as she shifted her attention to rearranging their cups so that they weren't so close to the edge of the table. She felt her face grow hot, thinking of how that had sounded.

"Oh, no, I- I'd like that," Bakura said suddenly. As he said this, he turned hastily back to facing the exit again, but Ishizu thought she saw his face a deep crimson color as she looked up from the cups.

"Really?" She could hardly believe it. He actually accepted? And he hadn't even sounded against the idea in the slightest... "Same time, same place then?" Ishizu asked, recovering.

"Yes," Bakura agreed, sounding sheepish, but pleased. "And..." Bakura mumbled, his voice becoming quieter with every word, "it wasn't anything you said earlier, it was just..." he trailed off as all of Ishizu's attention was on him now.

"No, never mind," he said abruptly. With that, he left the café without so much as a glance behind him.

Ishizu shook her head slightly. Perhaps Bakura's being upset didn't really have anything to do with her after all. At this thought, Ishizu could not help but be a little cheerful.

But even so, Ishizu couldn't help feeling a little concerned. If she wasn't the cause, then what was **really** bothering Bakura?

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/Ryou?-/

/Yes, what is it, Yami?-/ I asked tolerantly, taking deep breaths and allowing myself to revel in the simple joy of being alive.

I'd just arrived back at the Game Shop after my meeting with Ishizu and I was feeling rather good. I still felt guilty that I hadn't told Ishizu where I was really staying and that had almost ruined the whole night. I couldn't figure out why I didn't just tell her. It wasn't like I was afraid she'd laugh or look down on me or anything... I just really didn't want her to know for some reason...

But then she'd asked if they could meet again, so she couldn't be terribly offended...

/Don't ask that, Vessel,-/ my yami said airily.

/What?-/ I asked, feeling a little lost.

/Not,-/ my yami continued/when you are just going to ignore me afterward and start thinking about how happy you are to know that you have Ishizu's consent to humiliate you at Duel Monsters every week./

/Hush, you,-/ I mumbled, flushing slightly, but still grinning slightly as I headed toward the Game Shop.

/Fine, I will,-/ my yami said, sounding a little annoyed.

He didn't say anymore until I'd already opened the door to the Game Shop and gone over the welcome mat. He added a little coldly/Just thought I'd tell you that I saw a rental car outside with shovel and pick ornaments. They look familiar, don't they?-/

"What?-!" I cried frantically and tried to back out of the shop to see into the parking lot. Unfortunately, Yugi had already spotted me.

"Hey, Bakura, you're finally back! You have some people here that have been waiting for you..." he trailed off as he saw the look on my face as he had just had my worst fears confirmed.

"Hello, Ryou," said a deep, masculine voice.

I backed up against the door. Somehow, I doubted that whatever the reason my father had taken the trouble to find me would be all that great. What if he wanted me to move away from Domino, where Yugi and the others were?

I started to open the Game Shop door.

"Wait! Please stay for a moment and listen to me. I know I haven't been the best father to you..."

/And doesn't intend on improving any time soon.../ my yami muttered in a 'I'll read between the lines for you' sort of tone, still sounding sulky.

"...but I want to try again, Ryou. Starting with someone I should have told you about a month ago. Here I'm going to, er, re-introduce you to her."

My yami made a soft noise of disbelief from his soul room. /In other words, he's going to try to coax you into to doing something for him by pretending to have a sudden change of heart. He's just planning on using you, Ryou, which is completely unacceptable considering.../

/Good assessment/ I answered quietly, deciding not to comment on the 'unacceptable' part, but I wasn't totally against my father still. What if he really **had** had a 'change of heart' as my yami had put it? The only way I'd find out was if I didn't turn around and walk out the door which I'd been tempted to do a moment before. "What do you mean by 're-introduce'?" I asked cautiously.

Before the man could answer, my heart nearly stopped as a young feminine voice spoke up.

"Ryou?" she said timidly, emerging from behind a large display of games.

I involuntarily took a step forward, my mind coming to a sudden halt. Then, it began to start again at hyper speed, rationalizing against what it was trying to tell him. 'No- she- it **can't** be **her**...'

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Please r & r! Constructive criticism and flames are welcome.


	13. Family, Friends, and Discontent

Well, I took about as long as I usually do to update(a month), so I don't feel **too** guilty. Especially since this one's the longest yet at almost 3,000 words. The chapters just keep getting longer and longer...

Ah, more reviews! So pleased!

Thank you lexi(wait, lexi and lexi sullivan are the same person, right?) and dArkliTe-sPirit

lexi: Flames are reviews, but the review just says something like 'the story sucked' or 'I didn't like it'(there are funny ones out there I'm sure, but these are the best examples I can come up with on the spur of the moment); no constructive criticism. I wouldn't mind getting them, because I'd rather know how many people have seen my story(That, and that little number next to my title goes up... n.n).

dArkliTe-sPirit: That's how I find my favorites too(I use the search option, mainly...) n.n

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../  
this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.  
disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 13: Family, Friends, and Discontent

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Yami sighed and leaned back against the back wall of the Game Shop. There were times when he just didn't know what to do with himself and this was most certainly one of those times.

Ever since the incident at the mall, the Pharaoh couldn't help feeling a little down-hearted, like everything was a mess and he didn't know how to fix it. The only thing Yami found that he could actually do was comfort Yugi and try to keep him from feeling the same way. But right now, he was allowing his other self some peace and quiet in his soul room(Yami had volunteered after Malik had made a rather disturbing phone call asking where Bakura was, which had only succeeded in worrying his other even more) while the pharaoh did the job Grandpa wanted him to do. But the spirit wasn't feeling so well either...

Yami sighed again, and resumed his rearranging of the various games so they were in the right order (customers seemed to have a habit of picking them up and putting them back in the wrong place).

Yami had decided not to tell Yugi about his confrontation with Mai at the food court the other day, since it would probably just upset him, but the spirit couldn't help but feel a sort of dull worrying in the back of his skull. A part of him did want to confide in Yugi, since Yugi would probably have something to say that would bring Yami some peace, but he didn't want that in exchange for Yugi's own peace of mind...

_-. -. -. -. -. Flashback.-. -. -. -. -._

"_Wait, Mai!" Yami called, as he gave chase._

_Mai ignored him, continuing to weave through the crowds._

"_Mai! Please, I want to talk to you!" Yami cried, started to pant._

_Again, she didn't answer, but chose to speed up instead, shoving past the innocent bystanders._

"_Mai..." Yami wheezed, unsure how she was managing to keep up such a pace. "I just... want to tell you... I know how you feel..."_

_Mai stopped dead._

_Yami continued to jog until he was right behind her and paused to take a few deep breaths._

_Mai whirled around, bringing her face about an inch from the pharaoh's. "Don't you dare say you know how I feel," she hissed furiously._

_Yami was a little taken aback. "But, Mai..." he started, giving her a slightly confused look._

_Her eyes narrowed. "You think you know, but you don't. How can you? What I mean is..." she stopped for a moment to glare at the people who'd taken to staring. She seemed to consider for moment, then she grabbed Yami by the sleeve and started to drag him away._

_Once Yami had gotten the message, Mai released him and he followed her to the fairly secluded hallway that led to the restrooms._

_As soon as they reached it, Mai whirled around and continued right from where she left off, just as angry. "You seem to think that **you** know how **I** feel just because of whatever it was between you and Miss Friendship-" _

"_But there **wasn't**-" Yami started to deny, a bit indignant._

"_But the difference is, **you** have your little friends behind you-"_

"_They're behind you too-"_

"_I should have known this would happen getting mixed up in stupid friendships-"_

"_Friendship isn't-"_

"_Look, Yugi, or whoever you are," Mai said loudly, cutting him off again. "I already know your whole opinion on the subject, so I really don't need to hear it. I don't care about you or Joey or anyone else in your little play-group, so don't try to follow me or get me to come back or anything else like that because I'm **through**." With that, Mai stormed past Yami toward the crowded main hall of the mall._

_Too late, Yami called after her, "Wait, Mai! Come back! We're all your friends; don't just walk away...!" But she was already gone, out of earshot. _

_Yami stared at the place where Mai had just barely disappeared from view, feeling a little sick. How could this happen? Even though his rational mind told him it wasn't fair, he couldn't help but think a little resentfully that if Joey and Téa had just not gotten together, they would not be having these problems. He sighed deeply, and headed back toward the tables, hoping ruthlessly that Téa and Joey had felt so guilty that Mai left that they would have left too. _

_-. -. -. -. -. End Flashback.-. -. -. -. -._

Yami shook his head sadly. This was all a sorry business about Téa and Joey going out and wrecking their friendships, but he **couldn't**just stand back while everything fell apart. He had to **do** something, starting with Mai. He had to talk to her again, make her see that, no matter what, friendship wasn't just something that one got **mixed up** in... That it was an eternal bond that lasted longer than time itself, that her friends would always be in her heart, that it would want- no, **need**- to make up with them... But how could he convince Mai to come back to her friends, when Yami wasn't even so keen to talk to Téa and Joey himself?

Yami was shaken from his thoughts as the small welcome bell rang at the game shop's doorway. He wasn't in the mood to greet any customers at that moment, so he instinctively moved back toward the staircase, pausing to listen to Grandpa's over-friendly welcome, followed quickly by an attempt to interest the poor people in the most expensive games in the shop. Yami smiled slightly to himself and started to head upstairs to his room.

A voice of a young girl with a British accent answered Grandpa. "Ah, actually we came here because we were told that someone here might have information about Ryou Bakura."

Yami froze. 'They're looking for Bakura?' he thought feverishly. But how had these people found out he was staying here? Who were they?

"Oh..." said Grandpa, sounding disappointed. "Well, he-"

"Why do you want to know?" Yami asked sharply, cutting Grandpa off.

"Well, we..." the girl began awkwardly, evidently thrown off by Yami's accusatory tone of voice.

"Well?" Yami said, turning around to face the two visitors. He saw a teenage girl with long, white-ish-blue hair and pale skin, and a man with bluish-hair pulled back into a small ponytail standing in the doorway.

The girl wrung her hands nervously. "We needed to find him, and we were told that you might know where he-"

"Who told you?" Yami interrupted. He knew he shouldn't be so aggressive toward these people since he knew hardly anything about them, but he had a bad feeling about them that he couldn't quite shake off. A feeling of foreboding...

"Ah, there was this guy at this museum..." she cringed slightly as though expecting Yami to interrupt again.

Yami raised his eyebrows slightly. Who would have known where to send them? Not even their friends knew that Bakura was staying here... But he supposed it didn't really matter who had told them.

"I see," Yami said coldly, then, forcing his voice into politeness, asked, "So... why is it you need to find him?"

The girl looked like she was about to answer, but the man got there first. "I'm his father," he said matter-of-factly.

Unwillingly, Yami raised his eyebrows in surprise. He couldn't say for sure what he'd been expecting, but that most certainly hadn't been it.

"So you see, we really need to find him..."

Yami frowned slightly. "Well, he should be, ah, stopping by here later today..." Yami said slowly, then regretted it almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Would these people want to take Bakura away? Would they take Bakura to their own home, never to be seen again...? No... Bakura wouldn't just leave now; not when their friendships were in such turmoil...

"Will he?" said the girl. "He really will? Oh, thank you!"

Yami did not reply; instead, he turned around and headed back up the stairs. As soon as he reached Yugi's room, he went inside and closed the door.

/Yugi... Are you there?-/ Yami asked quietly.

/Yeah, what is it, Yami?-/ Yugi asked from within his soul room.

Yami threw himself down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Then, after a moment of struggling with himself he said/It's nothing, Yugi. Just... Just making sure you were still there is all./

/Oh,-/ said Yugi, not sounding entirely convinced. /Oh... Well, how is everything going in the shop, then?-/

/Taking a break,now,-/ he muttered. Then, his host's words acting as a stimulant, he found himself adding before he could stop himself/There are some people in there apparently looking for Bakura./

/Really? That's weird, isn't it? Wonder what they want./

Yami felt his other's curiosity and he sighed in defeat. Yami had hoped not to tell his other his other his worries right then, but now that he had gone and woken Yugi up, it seemed he had no choice. What good would it do, for him to hide it a this point? The last thing Yami needed was to grow apart from Yugi...

/There was a man that said he was Bakura's father./

/Really? Do you think they found out Bakura couldn't stay at his apartment anymore and have come to give him a real home? That would be good; I don't mind Bakura staying here, but I don't think he likes it much himself.../

Yami tried to keep his voice even, but he couldn't help but be a little angry at this declaration of naivety and his bad mood made shoving these feelings aside impossible. /Bakura lived in an apartment by himself. If he was living by himself, his family obviously lives far away from here; if he goes to live with his family.../ He didn't feel the need to finish.

/Oh.../ said Yugi, sounding downcast and Yami immediately hated himself. Yami stared determinedly at the ceiling, trying to come up with ways to apologize.

/Do you think they'll really take Bakura away, Yami?-/ Yugi asked after a moment.

Yami sighed, giving up on his apology, and said quietly/I don't know what they plan on doing, but there's something I don't like about them./

/There's probably nothing wrong with them, you know,-/Yugi said quickly, sensing what Yami was getting at. /Even if they do take Bakura somewhere far away, it won't mean they're bad; we'll still be able to write and stuff.../

/It's not that./ Yami answered. How could he describe this feeling/It's just... I have a bad feeling is all. A gut feeling./

/Are you sure that's your gut talking?-/ Yugi asked. /Maybe we should go get something to eat./ Yugi laughed through the link.

Yami shook his head slightly, still not convinced. Maybe he was so reluctant to let his first instinct go, because he so wanted it to be true that they were up to no good. Then Bakura wouldn't leave... /Maybe.../ Yami muttered.

/Anyway, why don't you let me have control, Yami?-/ Yugi asked. /I'm feeling better now and you must be tired. I'll go down and meet these people so I can judge whether they're really world-ruler wannabes or not./

Yami started to protest, thought better of it and said instead/All right./ Yami left Yugi's body and returned to his soul room.

Although Yami was now in his soul room, he chose to still remain aware of what was happening in the outside world.

Yugi entered the shop area and greeted the visitors warmly, but was a little thrown off by the looks of confusion and surprise on their faces at the complete turn-around in attitude.

Yugi was equally confused for about two seconds.

/Okay, what did you do, Yami?-/

/Me? I did nothing/ said Yami. /I just asked them a few questions is all./

Yugi sighed dramatically. /Can't leave you alone for a minute.../

So Yugi decided to turn over a new leaf with the newcomers by introducing himself and getting their names.

He simply called Bakura's father Mr. Bakura and he found out the girl's name was Amane and that she was Bakura's sister.

Mr. Bakura went off to examine the games, apparently trying to interest himself, although anyone could tell he was far from reaching his goal.

This annoyed Yami; who could look at a game and not be interested?

Amane on the other hand, preferred to bombard Yugi with all sorts of questions about Bakura. 'What's Ryou interested in?' 'What's Ryou like?' to list a few.

This also bothered Yami for it was obvious that she knew nothing about her own brother. These people couldn't just come and take Bakura off somewhere, when they weren't his **true** family... Not when Bakura had himself and Yugi and Téa and Joey...

He quickly shifted his attention back to Amane, determined not to think about the latter two persons.

"So Ryou likes games? What sort of games?" Amane asked, sounding like an over-zealous fangirl.

And why did she keep calling him 'Ryou'? She may be his sister, but she hardly knew him!

Yami tried to calm himself. It didn't make sense for him to get so worked up over such little things. He'd been a bit unhinged ever since his conversation with Mai, but that was no excuse... But he just couldn't shake the feeling that all their friendships were crumbling down around him...

It wasn't until around eight o'clock that Bakura finally returned.

By that time, Amane had run out of questions and was off looking at a particularly large display of games.

Although Yami's flow of adrenaline and the rush of emotions had long since worn off and he was simply feeling lethargic, he couldn't help but wonder vaguely why Bakura would be out so late.

Bakura entered the Game Shop and Yugi welcomed him warmly. "Hey, Bakura, you're finally back! You have some people here that have been waiting for you..." Yugi forgot what he was saying as he looked in surprise at the look of horror on Bakura's pale face.

Yami knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help but feel a little pleased. Perhaps Bakura would not want to go with them, after all...

"Hello, Ryou," said Mr. Bakura.

Bakura backed against the door and he started to nudge it open, apparently intent on escaping.

"Wait!" Mr. Bakura cried, sounding desperate. "Please stay for a moment and listen to me. I know I haven't been the best father to you, but I want to try again, Ryou. Starting with someone I should have told you about a month ago. Here I'm going to, er, re-introduce you to her."

'Re-introduce?' Yami wondered and it seemed that Bakura was wondering the same thing.

"What do you mean by 're-introduce'?" Bakura asked slowly, still not looking entirely certain that he wanted to stay.

"Ryou?" Amane said, revealing herself for the first time.

Bakura, looking thoroughly thrown off-balance, took a step forward. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"You don't recognize me?" she said quietly, not in a questioning tone, but more like she was trying to remind him.

Bakura shook his head vigorously, as though trying to clear it, before saying in a choked voice, "I-I don't understand... No... It can't be, I mean-"

Amane's face broke into a smile. "But it can!"

Yugi's eyes were flitting back and forth between them, apparently not understanding this conversation any better than Yami.

Suddenly Bakura smiled too. "It really **is**... But how?"

Yami, unwillingly so, felt an unpleasant feeling of discontent stirring in his chest. So Bakura was happy with this after all...

Yugi felt nothing of this sort; he was content and pleased. /I'm glad Bakura's happy,-/ he said smiling, averting his gaze as the brother and sister embraced.

Then, noticing Yami's silence, he asked in concern/Are you okay, Yami? I know Bakura may have to leave, but he could visit sometimes and we could write... Hey, I bet we could even play a game of chess or something by mail!-/

Yami didn't answer. Didn't Yugi understand? Didn't he understand that things were already falling apart enough as it was? That they didn't need Bakura leaving, when others like Mai were already threatening to...?

/Yami...? Come on, we don't even know for sure that he'll go with them yet!-/ Yugi said, sounding a little exasperated.

It took a moment to master himself before the pharaoh answered stiffly/Of course you're right, Yugi./

/It'll be okay, Yami,-/ Yugi said reassuringly. /Everything will work out, you'll see.../

But exactly **how** would things work out? That was the question.

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Read and review, s'il vous plaît! Constructive criticism along with flames are welcomed, as always.


	14. Domino Park

Hey, I updated! And it's in half the time that I normally update. :) Hmm... Although, this chapter is about half the length of my last one... and I have to say that I'm not nearly as satisfied with this chapter as with my last, but again, that probably has to do with the length...

Anyway, thanks dArkliTe-sPirit(n.n, heh, that's the way I feel too) and Melamory(took me long enough, but I did finally get there! Hey, wait a sec... you changed your name, didn't you?)!

Btw, did anyone else see the new Yugi-oh episode earlier today? Bakura is back! Yes! Hmm... I think that that scene at the beginning has Bakura saying more than he ever has at one time in the whole series. So adorable how Ryou goes to a church in order to get away from his yami. n.n(I wonder if Bakura goes to church? That would be so fitting; he goes to church on Sunday and is possessed by a demon the other six days...) I'm afraid that dear Bakura won't be getting anymore spotlight for awhile, though. But there was one thing that confused me about the scene: When Yami Bakura is talking to Bakura he says, "Does the term 'Millennium Item' sound familiar? Well, you promised to help me collect all seven." When did Bakura promise that? Or is he saying '**Will** you promise to help me collect all seven?'...? I thought it sounded like a statement, but never mind...

So, sorry for talking too much(I sound like another crazed fangirl, don't I? I think I must just be hyper right now...), but I kind of decided to post as a celebration for the beginning of the Egyptian Arc... I can't wait to see Thief King Bakura! n.n

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh. And I don't wish that I did, because I know I would just screw up Mr. Takahashi's ingenious work! (although, I could do with a little of the money he makes...)

Chapter 14: Domino Park

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It was now early afternoon in Domino. Harsh winds were blowing everywhere, all possessing a bite amongst their strangled wails that warned of winter's approach.

Most people chose not to endure the cold with their normal activities that demanded their presence away from the warmth of their houses. But of course, 'most people' does not apply to everyone.

Mai Valentine was sitting on a old, wooden bench in Domino Park, her fur coat drawn tightly around her thin frame. Occasionally, she would pull one one of her silk-gloved hands out of the protection of her coat to glance impatiently at a silver, metallic watch, labeled with Roman numerals.

'Where is he?' she wondered. It might have been a couple minutes before the designated time, but she'd have expected him to come early as it was **he** who'd wanted this meeting in the first place...

Mai glanced up the path once again and her eyes fell on the an approaching figure.

'About time,' she thought.

As the figure drew nearer, Mai did not bother to stand up in welcome or even in acknowledgment.

The figure stopped beside the park bench, his expression unusually grim. "Hello, Mai," he said quietly.

"Hello, Yugi," said Mai, but her instinct told her that he wasn't **really** Yugi.

"I needed to talk to you..." Yami started, looking a bit awkward.

"I kind of gathered as much," Mai replied coldly. "And you might as well know that the only reason I agreed to meet you is because I'm going to tell you to leave me alone." This was the reason Mai had supplied for herself; in truth, the thought of simply leaving without speaking to any of them first gave her heart the feeling of being pulled and strained, almost as if someone were trying to break it... But then, it was only natural that she have **some** regret after all the time she'd spent with them... But she was confident that any discomfort would go away soon enough once she'd left.

Yami looked at her sadly, but also with determination. "Don't leave us just yet, Mai. Take some time... Think about it some more. Don't rush."

"I've already packed my things," Mai said crisply, which was perfectly true; she'd just finished putting her clothes, make-up, and duel monster cards into her suitcases when Yami had called her. "And my plane ticket's already bought. Get it? I'm leaving tomorrow morning no matter what you say now."

Yami did not answer, but instead seated himself next to Mai on the bench. He gazed up at the sky for a moment, before saying quietly, "Do you remember something you once told me, Mai? You told me that one has to have the courage to look inside their heart and find the weakness-"

"I know what I said!" Mai snapped. "And my leaving has nothing to do with **my** inner demons... Go quote that at Joey and Téa; they could probably use it."

"I wasn't trying to give you advice, Mai," Yami said unexpectedly, causing Mai to look around at him in confusion, her eyes narrowed.

"Sure you weren't."

Yami sighed slightly and did not look at Mai, instead continuing to gaze up at the gray sky above them, as he spoke again. "I was trying to remind you of that duel. The duel that really marked the time when we stopped being **acquaintances**, and started being **friends**..."

Mai stared up at the sky as well, as if trying to find what the pharaoh found so interesting up there. "What is it you want from me?" she asked finally, sounding immensely tired all of a sudden.

Yami turned from the dreary sky above to her in slight amazement. "You're our friend, Mai. Do you expect us not to care if you leave and never come back? We all care about you..."

In reply, Mai simply looked down to glare at her hands which she'd clenched in her lap. She supposed that she should probably get some more decent gloves. Silk just didn't seem to cut it...

"Do you honestly expect to change my mind, Yami?" she asked without looking up.

Mai felt his violet eyes upon her, as he considered. "I actually came here to ask you to postpone your departure," he said finally.

"You have any special reason, by any chance? That might make me want to change my mind about leaving today?" Mai asked. She couldn't help but think a little bit funny. What could he have to say that would make her want to stay for even a day longer?

"Halloween's coming up in about a week... I thought maybe you'd want to come with us to... to... ah, it's this tradition that people usually do around Halloween..."

Mai looked at the spirit in incredulous amusement, the tense atmosphere draining in an instant. "I trust you're referring to trick-or-treating," she said, smirking slightly.

"Yes, that's it," said Yami, not showing the the slightest sign of embarrassment. "So will you?" he asked quickly, apparently catching on to the sudden more light-hearted mood and attempting to take full advantage of it.

Mai sighed and stared back down at her gloves. "Trick-or-treating's for little kids," she muttered. "Didn't they tell you that?"

"Well... Someone has to watch out for Joey and Tristan, right?" Mai felt Yami tense next to her as he said Joey's name, as though he'd accidentally mentioned someone who'd died recently.

But Mai just chuckled slightly. She was not offended by the mention of Joey's name; on the contrary, she found Yami reference to him being a little kid quite amusing. "So you want to hire me on as a baby-sitter?" she asked, smiling slightly and looking up.

Yami relaxed slightly, then seemed to consider for a moment. "Yes, you could look at it that way."

"Just say... say I decide to stay for a little while longer. It'll only be to humor you and you've got to understand that I'll be leaving the next day."

"If you agree," Yami said, giving Mai his full attention and looking hopeful, "I promise not to bother you at all, when you decide to leave."

"And the others...?" Mai pressed.

"...won't bother you either," Yami supplied firmly.

"Well, alright," Mai said finally, and Yami smiled broadly.

"I'll stay for Halloween, but after that I'm gone, got it?" Mai said, determined to make her intentions perfectly clear.

"I've got it, Mai," Yami answered, still grinning. "Anyway, we'll probably be meeting outside the Game Shop, but we haven't really got anything laid out for certain yet, so we'll be sure to contact you."

"Right," she said, standing up. "Well, see you later, Hon."

Yami stood up as well, watching her retreating back feeling pleased. "Good-bye, Mai," he called after her. "I look forward to seeing what your costume will be."

Mai glanced at him over her shoulder. "I'm sure you do," she said. "But yours isn't going to be much of surprise to anyone I bet, huh? Mr. Dark Magician-is-my-favorite-card."

"Thank you. Now I've got to go out and find another costume."

Mai smirked slightly. "Anytime." With that, she turned back to the walkway and continued on her way until she turned at a place where the paths branched off and was out of sight.

Yami shook his head. The fact of the matter was, he'd already toyed with the idea of dressing as his favorite card, but the costumes he and Yugi had seen at the stores had been a bit too... **artificial** for either of their tastes. The only way he could think of to make it impressive enough to even appeal to the pharaoh was if the tomb robber used some shadow magic like he had last time, but, unfortunately, it turned out that costumes of that sort only came in small sizes.

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Please read and review! Constructive criticism and flames are welcome!


	15. Subtle Jealousy and Subtle Disagreement

Thank you dArkliTe-sPirit(heh, well naturally I think I ought to be congratulated, but I certainly wouldn't blame you if you threw up instead n.n) and Melamory(thanks, and I like your new name; it just confused me for a moment n.nU) for reviewing! It makes me so happy. n.n

Yeah, so I've been updating a bit faster ever since they finally started the Memory World Arc(or the 'going back in time' arc as it seems to be in the dub version). Poor Ryou, passed out on the stairs. ;"; When I started this fanfic, I thought that anime Yugi was as good of friends with Bakura as manga Yugi is, but I see that I was completely misguided in that assumption by Yugi's total lack of concern in finding that Bakura was possessed by Yami Bakura. Again. T.T

Okay, so here's the chapter. Better get it out there before I go off on describing all the things I like about tan, tomb thief Bakura... (sigh... I need a livejournal, but I'm just too lazy)

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing:-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh. And I'm truthful about that (on most occasions), so I don't claim to.

Chapter 15: Subtle Jealousy and Subtle Disagreement

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The Egyptian sighed slightly and let his head fall forward to rest on his arms. Then he lifted it again to stare avidly out the small kitchen window above the sink. A little while after this, he stood up and paced the length of the room twice before sinking back into his chair once again.

Malik repeated this strange behavior several more times in random orders until finally the other Egyptian in the room decided she'd had enough.

"Malik, please!" Ishizu said, sounding slightly exasperated. "You're making me nervous."

"Whatever," Malik muttered, flopping back into his chair once again and resting his head on his arms.

"Is something wrong, Malik?" Ishizu asked. "You seem a bit on edge today."

Malik didn't move, but instead muttered in a tone that clearly marked his disapproval, "And you're Miss Sunshine."

Ishizu did not say any more for a moment, apparently determined to keep her attention on the dishes(Odion had to work overtime at the museum as the owner had just made another one of his insane, last-minute requests). Then, choosing to ignore Malik's comment pressed on, "Are you sure you're all right, Malik? If there's anything I can do..."

Malik gave a derisive snort, then lifted his head. "Get me a drink of water," he ordered smugly.

Ishizu sighed and, instead of arguing, proceeded in taking two cups from the cupboard and filling them both with tap water.

"Here," she said setting one down in front of him and taking the other one.

Malik was a little taken aback at this lack of attempted discipline from Ishizu. In fact, now that he was really thinking about it, she really **did** seem to be a bit happier than usual...

"Are you **sure** nothing's wrong?" Ishizu asked, giving Malik a look that held traces of real concern.

"Hmph," said Malik. "I'm just as fine as I need to be, and even if there was something, I don't plan on telling anyone." A little pleased with himself, he waited for Ishizu to insist on telling her.

"Oh. Okay."

Malik stopped for a moment before actually turning completely around and looking up at Ishizu in astonishment. Ishizu had gone back to washing the dishes, drying towel over her shoulder and everything, not looking the least bit upset.

Malik sat sulkily for about a minute before letting out a soft sigh, signaling his defeat. "Well..." he started slowly. "It wasn't really important, but since you keep **insisting**..."

Ishizu looked at him over her shoulder, a look of amusement playing on her face.

"I was at the museum yesterday," Malik said, choosing to ignore her, "and I saw this girl."

Ishizu looked rather amused by this revelation as she reached for her own glass of water. "A girl, huh? Was she pretty?"

"Yes, a girl," said Malik irritably. "And how should I know if she pretty or not? I was a bit preoccupied by the fact that she was seriously getting on my nerves."

"Well, that was certainly some accomplishment on her part. I mean, how hard is it to get on **your** nerves, Little Brother?" said Ishizu, grinning(looking uncharacteristically cheerful, in Malik's opinion) before taking a long drink from her glass of water.

Malik scowled, but chose to ignore her again for the most part. "She was looking for Bakura apparently, and when she found out I knew him..." he trailed off, as he lost himself in thought for a moment.

At the time, he'd not been in much of a mood for talking to the girl, but now he was wishing he'd asked her a bit more about why she was looking for Bakura in the first place. But couldn't she have at least given him a **little** more of an explanation than she did, even if he hadn't asked? He **had** decided to help her after all, even when he hadn't wanted to...

Frowning as this new indignation spawned new annoyance, he said in a high-pitched imitation of the girl, "'Y-You **know** Ryou?-! **The** Ryou?-! Oh my gosh, tell me where he is right this second!"

Ishizu chose this moment to start choking violently on her drink. She leaned over the sink, coughing.

"You shouldn't have tried to drink so much at once," said Malik smugly.

Ishizu glowered at him over her shoulder, eyes watering and for a moment Malik was sure Ishizu was going to say something really nasty, but then she surprised him by muttering instead, "Continue."

"Er, okay," Malik said, his eyebrows raised. "Yeah, so there was this girl looking for Bakura and I never found out why-"

"What was her name?" Ishizu asked a little sharply.

"Amanu, Amane, something like that," Malik said impatiently, a little irritated at being interrupted. "Why do you care anyway?"

"No reason..." she muttered as she washed her hands in the sink. "So you never found out who she was?"

"No," said Malik. "But I guess we'll find out eventually. I'm thinking of calling Bakura later today, though."

"You told her where to find him?" Ishizu asked, looking a little angry. "Without knowing who she was, or what she wanted?"

"Sure," Malik said, shrugging. "Why?"

"Never mind then, if you can't figure it out," she said coldly before turning back around, her hands scouring the dish with a sort of vindictive force that hadn't been present before.

Malik frowned, a little annoyed. What was her problem?

He sat at the table for several more minutes, sulking, before he finally stood up and went into his own room.

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I sighed deeply and leaned my head back and against the bench, relishing in the peaceful, pretty environment. How could life possibly get any better?

"This is a beautiful park, Ryou," said the girl sitting next to me quietly.

I beamed with pleasure as I turned to gaze down at her. "You think so, Amane? I don't come here often, but I thought it was nice..."

She smiled back. "You know I'd like any place you'd take me."

Still smiling, I answered, "Thank you..."

It had been so long since I'd seen Amane. I couldn't believe I'd thought her dead for all these years and she'd been alive all this time... But now I had her back, and that was all that mattered.

"Amane," I whispered softly. "I missed you..."

She smiled back. "I know, I missed you too. Ryou..."

"I wish I'd known... It would've saved me so much..." I didn't finish. I didn't want to sound as though I wanted her pity or anything. Not from my best friend in the world... I sighed again, determined to change the direction of this conversation.

"But anyway, I guess I can't blame Father for not telling me..." One of the first things I'd asked my father after our happy reunion(Amane's and mine, not mine and my father's) was why he hadn't told me Amane was alive all this time, but it turned out that he hadn't known about it either up until around a month ago.

/I'd still blame him if I were you, Vessel,-/ said the spirit from his soul room. /It will make you feel better. Trust me./

I didn't answer; instead I focused my attention on Amane, who was now frowning at me.

"I don't understand. What do you have against him, Ryou?" She looked a bit resentful as she said this. "What did he do to you?"

/She means **besides** completely ignoring his own son and neglecting him for x-number of years, of course,-/ said the spirit, sounding annoyed. /Really, how dare she ask such a thing?-/

/He did send me money, Yami,-/ I pointed out.

/But he completely forgot about that when he saw his _other_ child, did he not?-/ he said quietly. /She only defends him because he likes her over you and she knows it./

I blinked in shock. Recovering, I answered angrily/That's not true and you know it! Amane just doesn't know that much about him yet.../ I didn't mind his insulting my father so much, or that he suggested that my father liked Amane better than me, but I wouldn't allow him to talk that way about my sister. Amane wasn't like that...

/Suit yourself,-/ the yami replied abruptly, sounding suddenly angry for some reason. /Just don't come running back to me when you find out I'm right.../

/Fine,-/ I called back, a little angrily, a little confused by my yami's abrupt mood swing. I turned my attention back to real life to find Amane waving a slender hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Ryou. You in there?"

I blushed. "Sorry, I was just kind of lost in thought, is all."

"Oh," she said, raising her eyebrows. "Well, anyway, I asked you what you have against Father."

I sighed slightly. I'd been hoping she'd have forgotten. "Ah, no nothing," I said. "I don't have anything against him really. He just... surprised me is all. Hey, did you get a chance to visit the museum yet?"

I was sure Amane could see through my lie and change of subject like a sheet of plastic wrap, but I was a little relieved when she chose not to press the matter. She still looked disappointed, though.

"Yes... we were there yesterday. Father owns the place after all."

"Oh," said Bakura, shifting uncomfortably. "...Did you see the Tablet of the Nameless Pharaoh while you were there?"

"No, I didn't... Wait, isn't that the tablet that that Professor Hawkins places his crazy theory on?"

I winced. "Yes... that's the one."

Amane must have noticed my expression because she added in an incredulous tone, "You don't believe it do you? That some modern card game is based on a real game in Ancient Egypt? Magic doesn't exist, Brother."

/...Am I the only one here reminded of Seto Kaiba?-/

It seemed the spirit had another mood swing for he was sounding thoroughly amused.

/Yes,-/ I answered, sounding more waspish than I meant to, even to my own ears. /Kaiba's in denial. He's seen the magic and still says it doesn't exist. My sister hasn't seen magic, so it's only natural for her not to believe in it./

/In that case... maybe I could demonstrate for her./

/NO!-/

"Brother? Did you hear what I said?"

I snapped to. "What? Oh, ah, yes... of course..."

Amane sighed. "What, were you 'lost in thought' again? You seem to do that a lot... Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded emphatically. "Yes! Really, I'm fine. Could you repeat the question, please?" I gave her my rapt attention, while she gave me an odd look.

"I asked whether you seriously thought there could possibly be any truth at all to the theory."

"Well..." I said slowly, choosing my words carefully. "Couldn't the Egyptians have at least had some game like Duel Monsters? Maybe one that didn't involve real monsters... Pegasus could have based his monsters on those stone carvings, couldn't he?"

/You are so pathetic it's not even funny./

"Wish we could ask," Amane said ruefully. "But no one's heard from him since Duelist Kingdom..."

I coughed.

"I can't help but think that that Seto Kaiba had something to do with it though," she said thoughtfully.

I looked at her in surprise. "What makes you say that?" I asked.

"I mean, wasn't Pegasus out to take over Kaiba's company or something? I bet he got murdered..." Amane stared off into the distance, with an expression on her face that I couldn't quite decipher.

"Well..." I said. "I'm sure Kaiba's not that bad."

"What, you've met him?" It was a rhetorical question.

I shrugged in response. "Anyway, it's getting late; I think we need to get home."

"Okay," she said, still staring off into the distance with that same unfathomable expression. "See you then..."

"Bye," I said quietly watching her go. That had been a little odd... Still, I thought smiling, Amane was alive. And that was all that mattered...

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Please read and review! Flames are welcome(or if you happen to catch any of those annoyingly obvious typos). n.n


	16. Birthdays and Late Arrival

So, yeah, another chapter. The guilt finally got to me... Anyway, I want to warn you that this chapter is a bit... **silly**... in comparison with the others(at least in the first part).

dArkliTe-sPirit:(okay, this is mostly in reply to your review for chapter 14, but I was too lazy to reply then) Ryou was a little less, er, angry in the last chapter wasn't he? I think you're right about Yami Bakura's statement; I tend to think of things in terms of the manga and in the manga the readers actually see when Bakura first discovers the spirit, which is after he met Yugi. But the anime tends to change stuff like that, so who knows. Yami Bakura does make the statement in duelist kingdom about how Bakura 'betrayed' him... and Bakura says that about being 'enslaved by an evil spirit'... HMMM... Oh, and I hope Ryou does play a larger role in this season, but from what I know of the anime, I get the feeling Ryou's going to stay passed out on those stairs for the whole season and then we'll get some two-minute scene of him at the very end. (sigh)

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 16: Birthdays and Late Arrivals

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"Good. Keep an eye on it, then."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba."

With that said, Roland left the room.

Kaiba sighed and rubbed his temples. Apparently, someone, somewhere was buying up a lot of Kaiba Corp's shares; they didn't have enough to be a threat yet, but Kaiba knew that it was best to wait and make sure it didn't become one.

Kaiba spent the rest of the day, feeling a little on edge for worry(not that he'd ever admit to it) about the unknown buyers. He was keeping close tabs on the person's shares, in case he had to step in. Like he'd let some nobody take over HIS company.

When Kaiba finally arrived back at the Kaiba mansion, it had gotten pretty late. Hopefully, Mokuba would have already gone to bed.

Kaiba, still having some late work to finish, went into the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee. He opened the cabinet to find that every box of coffee was missing.

'Strange...' Hadn't they just bought some the other day?

"I was wondering when you'd finally get home, Big Bro."

Kaiba stiffened slightly- the only sign he gave that he'd been startled. He slowly turned around. "Hello, Mokuba... Why aren't you in bed now?" It came out sounding more like an order than a question.

Mokuba ignored this, and instead, grinned broadly. "You think I would go the whole day without seeing you on your **Birthday**? Besides, it's only seven thirty."

Kaiba's cool blue eyes narrowed slightly. "And your bedtime is at seven," he said, disregarding the Birthday comment.

"Since when?" Mokuba asked, giving his older brother an incredulous look.

The two gazed at one another for a moment, looking a little defiant, before Kaiba finally asked suspiciously, "Where's my coffee, Mokuba?"

Mokuba suddenly grinned devilishly. "My teacher at school says that 'substituting coffee for sleep' is very bad for you and it shortens your life."

Kaiba frowned. 'Note to self: get Mokuba a private tutor.' "Mokuba..." Kaiba started in a warning tone, then changed his strategy halfway through after taking one look at his brother's large, gray eyes which were a bit larger than normal. "Fine. You get to bed now, while I have some work to do-"

"Just try without a laptop," Mokuba interrupted, with a smirk that would have made Kaiba proud had he not been about to wring his brother by the neck instead.

"You took my coffee AND my laptop?" Kaiba asked incredulously.

Mokuba seemed to pick up on the rather unfriendly look on his brother's face, and he began to wave his hands in front of him like a cornered thief trying to reason with a extra greedy miser.

"Wait, Seto! I'll return them by tomorrow morning, I promise, but you have to celebrate your birthday."

Kaiba didn't seem to have changed his mind one jot, however as he said, "Mokuba, you have to the count of five. One."

"Please, Big Brother! Just for today?" Mokuba stared up at his brother pleadingly.

"Two."

"I made you a cake, Seto!"

"Three."

"I took your Blue Eyes and hid it someplace that you'll never find."

"Four-**What did you say**?"

Mokuba's face regained it's devilish grin as he realized he'd struck gold. "I hid one of your Blue Eyes White Dragons," he repeated. "I'll return it tomorrow, but only if you promise to celebrate your birthday with me."

Kaiba's eyebrow twitched. He seemed to consider for a moment, before muttering something completely inaudible.

"Whatd'you say?" Mokuba asked cheerfully.

"I said** fine**..." Kaiba repeated a little louder, sounding utterly irritated.

"Really, Big Brother? Oh, thank you!" said Mokuba, apparently all prepared to pretend that his brother had agreed from the goodness of his heart and not because of he was blackmailed.

So Mokuba led his grumpy brother into their humongous dining room, which even Odion would have had trouble taking care of.

As they entered, Kaiba noticed a rather lumpy-looking something sitting on the table. It was a mix of white and yellow grit with a mysterious blue dot in the middle.

"See, Seto? It's a Blue-Eyes!" said Mokuba happily.

Kaiba studied the white blob a bit closer and decided that it **did** resemble his beloved dragons to some extent, but he sincerely hoped Mokuba wouldn't make him actually **eat** any.

Mokuba grabbed a lighter from seemingly out of nowhere and lit the small cylinders of wax that had sunk so far into the cake that they were now hardly visible. "Okay," he said when he was finished, "I'll sing the song, then you make a wish and blow out the candles."

"Make a wish? And **blow out the candles**? Don't be ridiculous Mokuba."

"Seto..." said Mokuba warningly.

Kaiba's eyebrow twitched and he gave his younger brother a death glare. "Once I have my Blue-Eyes back, you are so grounded."

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By the time I had reached the Game Shop, I was feeling immensely guilty- I was a guest after all and it was rude of me to return so late. Surely Grandpa Moto would not approve. So when I entered, I crept as quietly as I could, so I wouldn't disturb them if they were already in bed. I had just reached the bottom of the staircase that led up to Yugi's room, when someone touched my shoulder.

I jumped and whirled around to come face to face with Yugi. I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you, Yugi," I whispered.

"Yeah," Yugi whispered back. "Who were you expecting?"

"You just startled me is all," I said, blushing slightly.

"Sorry. Anyway, where have you been? Grandpa-"

"Is your Grandpa really angry, Yugi? I'm really sorry- I know it was really awful of me- I was with my sister and I sort of lost track of time-"

"Wait, slow down Bakura!" said Yugi, looking a little stricken. "Grandpa's not angry with you. We were getting worried that something might have happened-" He looked up at me with large violet eyes. "Please, listen to me, Bakura. Grandpa and I aren't out to get you! You don't need to worry about being rude or impolite just because you're staying with us- you don't need to feel like you owe us anything..."

I blinked in surprise. Then, choosing my words carefully, I said, "I know that Yugi, it's just... I don't want... to appear **ungrateful**, when I... really want to show how much I appreciate..."

My gaze drifted toward the floor as I felt even more guilty than before.

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about!" said Yugi, causing my head to snap upward. "Don't feel like you have to **show** how much you appreciate it- I trust you when you say it! Please Bakura, just understand that this is the least that I can do as your friend..."

I gazed down at him for several moments before my face broke into a smile. "Thanks, Yugi," I said. It was nice of him to say those things... even if it was impossible for me to simply accept those words and be done with it.

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Another short chapter. Well, please r & r! Feel free to flame if you must (and sometimes I think I deserve it for all switching pov's I do).

Note: I meant to post this several days ago, but my computer had gone kindawonky, so I couldn'tlog in. That's the reasonwhy I haven't beenupdating my otherfic...


	17. At the Library

Sigh... all this time and I come out with a short, completely uneventful chapter(bangs head againstdesk)All I can say is désolé!

dArkliTe-sPirit: Even though I love Kaiba, I love to make fun of him even more. XD

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 17: At the Library

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"Egypt... Pharaohs... ah, okay..." Yugi scanned the shelves for a book on Pharaohs. "Ah, here we are," he muttered after a moment as he laid his eyes on something that might be of interest.

/Yugi? Have you found anything yet?-/ Yami asked, a little impatiently.

/Hold on, I'm looking, Yami,-/ Yugi answered as he opened the book and flipped through it, surveying the small, black and white pictures critically. No, this wasn't what they were looking for...

/You know, Yugi,-/ said Yami, with a hint of resentment/I still think we'd have better luck at the museum than at this.../ he paused.

/Library?-/ Yugi supplied dully.

/Yes,-/ said Yami quickly. /Anyway, what about it? Don't you think the museum would be a wiser choice?-/

/I already told you that we were coming to the library because I wanted one of those artist's imitations of what a pharaoh might have really looked like,-/ Yugi said, for what felt like the millionth time. /Not one of those tapestry pictures./

/There's nothing wrong with tapestries,-/ Yami huffed.

Yugi sighed as he replaced the book on the shelf and pulled out another one.

/But you'd better hurry, Yugi,-/ said Yami. /We have only a few days left until-/

/Yes, I know, Yami. How could I forget with you reminding me every other minute?-/ Yugi said, both amused and irritated. For some reason, Yami seemed really excited about the whole prospect of going trick-or-treating on Halloween. Yugi was happy for his other half, since he had been feeling a little gloomy lately, but Yugi also felt that the spirit was being a little too cheerful.

Yugi let his gaze drift up to the ceiling. If only there were some way to make Bakura understand... to make him feel more comfortable... At first, he'd been really happy for Bakura at his reunion with his sister, but now he could not help but feel a little apprehensive. Would Bakura leave with Amane just to get away from the completely imaginary pressures he had at the Game Shop? Yugi would be more than happy to respect Bakura's wishes if he chose to leave with his sister, but he so didn't want Bakura leaving one such a poor note...

/Yugi? Are you searching diligently?-/

Yugi snapped out of his thoughts. /Yes, of course, Yami,-/ he said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. /Almost found something.../

/Yugi, is something wrong?-/ Yami asked suddenly, sounding concerned. /Ever since you spoke to Bakura last night.../

A little surprised that his yami had noticed, Yugi answered quickly/I'm fine, Yami. Don't worry about it. Anyway, what do you think of this picture here?-/ In an attempt to change the subject, Yugi held the picture in the book up so that it was in a better light.

/It's fine, Yugi,-/ said Yami, sounding a little hurt. /But are you sure...?-/

/Yes, I'm okay. Really,-/ Yugi assured him.

/Well, if you're certain.../ said Yami doubtfully.

/Yeah... So, anyway, we'd better get going. It's gonna take forever to get all this stuff together.../

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I sighed deeply.

"_Grandpa and I aren't out to get you! You don't need to worry about being rude or impolite just because you're staying with us- you don't need to feel like you owe us anything..."_

"And I believe you, Yugi," I muttered. "It's not that I... Things are okay the way they are now; don't worry about it." If only I **had **said those things... or something like it at least. But I knew somehow that I'd managed to hurt Yugi's feelings. Knew that he saw through my plastic smile and automated thank you...

But was it my fault that I felt the way I did? **Why** did Yugi have to feel guilty about the way I felt and therefore make me feel guilty that he felt guilty...

I shook my head. I **had** to think about something else... Something happy...

...I was going to go spend some time with my sister again today. That was something to be happy about, wasn't it?

/Oh, yes. Because your last meeting was **such** as happy one./

I grimaced slightly. Yes, I now know that his only goal in life is to make me miserable. Why else would heintentionally remind me of that unpleasant exchange?

/I'm glad to have her back, all the same, Yami,-/ I said, frowning at the ceiling.

/I don't like her,-/ said the spirit abruptly, taking me by surprise. /She's too... There's something I don't like about her./

I bit my tongue, suddenly angry. He ought not talk about my sister that way... /And what would that be?-/ I asked, a little snappishly. /If you're trying to say she's acting strangely or suspiciously... just know that she's exactly the way I remember her when I was eight. Do you think she was evil incarnate when she was six or something? Is that it?-/ I took several deep breaths to calm myself before the yami replied.

/I didn't say it had anything to do with the way she was acting, Host.../ said the spirit slowly, in a tone that indicated he felt completely insulted by this accusation. /It's just a feeling... But you are defending her a little too quickly, I think. You are taking for granted-/

/Never mind,-/ I said suddenly. For some reason, I really didn't want to discuss this anymore.

/Fine. See if I care,-/ said the yami coldly, evidently annoyed at being interrupted. /Just don't say I didn't warn you.../

With that, I felt the barrier go up between us as he returned to his soul room.

**Why** did he have to express such dislike for my sister? I mean, I could understand his always insulting the Pharaoh and my other friends after all that happened, but Amane hadn't even **done** anything to him...

I glanced at my watch. Well, time to go meet Amane, I guess...

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Ick. Way short chapter, but I wanted to get this posted while my computer is still letting me on my account...

Please read and review!


	18. A Shifty Conversation

The guilt finally got to me. Well, this one's just as short as the last one, but for some reason I'm more pleased with this. :-/

dArkliTe-sPirit: Odd, weird, bizarre, mysterious, eerie, enigmatic, ambiguous, astrology, etc... lol Yeh, well anyway... (sigh)I dunno if Kaiba's gonna get much more screen time in this, 'cuz I hacked just about everything with Kaiba in later chapters when I came to the startling realization that it made absolutely zero sense. ;O;'

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 18: A Shifty Conversation

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And so on Ishizu's roller coaster of emotions, she seemed to be going downhill once again.

She sighed deeply as she laid awake in bed. She turned over in an attempt to get in a more comfortable position, but after a moment, she rolled back into her original position. She rolled onto her back to gaze up at the ceiling. The gray tiles separated by thick black lines were strangely ominous tonight...

Ishizu sighed deeply again. She'd been in such a _good_ mood the last few days, so why did her mood have to change so abruptly? Just because Malik told her some girl was looking for Bakura? It was foolish to be bothered by such a thing. Bakura had the right to have as many friends as he wanted...

But thinking of Bakura with some strange girl, for some reason, made her throat burn and her stomach writhe. Maybe she was afraid that if Bakura became too caught up with this girl he wouldn't want to meet her on Tuesdays anymore... Yes, that must be it. She really didn't want that to happen, so- that must be what's troubling her-

Ishizu rolled her eyes, disgusted with herself as she turned onto her side again. What was **wrong** with her? That was such a flimsy reason... especially since she didn't really have any reason to think this girl would interrupt their meetings.

Ishizu frowned and sat up suddenly. She stood up and walked slowly over to the small desk next to her bed.

Silly... That's what this was. So **why** did it bother her so much? It couldn't be that she...

She felt her face grow hot and she picked up a piece of paper off the desk to try and distract herself. It was an application for a part-time job she'd filled out some time ago. That time at the food court, when Bakura had first suggested they duel together sometime. Ever since she'd started dueling with Bakura she'd decided not to send it out(it was for a job on Tuesdays), but maybe she should reconsider... if Bakura really didn't like dueling with her. If that girl...

Ishizu gazed gloomily out the dark window. It was too dark to see anything really except the lights of the other nearby apartment complexes.

"_Oh no, I-I'd like that."_

Ishizu smiled despite herself. Should she give up so easily?

'Even if there's only one chance in a million...'

She ripped the application in half and threw it in the waste basket.

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Meanwhile, someone else wasn't having so much luck with cheering herself up.

Téa Gardener sat slumped against the kitchen chair, her homework spread out in front of her, but her mind was on anything but school work.

**Why**did they all hate her? Her and Joey...

Téa set her pencil down on the table and leaned backward, sighing despairingly.

When she'd first made her decision she'd been afraid this would happen, but she'd hoped that their friendship would help them pull through. But of course she'd been wrong. Mai and Yami _hated _them and the others were surely mad at them too... All she had was Joey(and Serenity was behind them as well) who continued to be optimistic about the situation.

"_Don't worry, Téa. Yug' and Mai'll come around sometime. Our friendship's stronger than **that**."_

But Téa wasn't so sure. They must feel so betrayed... and could Téa really blame them? She had **known **this would happen, and yet she still... But, would it really be right to hide her feelings for Joey? For him to hide his? Téa was just so confused...

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A man in his mid-thirties with a small blue pony-tail sat in his hotel room, sipping from his cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. He only raised his gaze when a young girl entered the hotel room, looking radiant.

"Did you have a good time, Honey?" the man asked casually.

"Yes, Father," she said, smiling. "We talked about all sorts of things..."

"Amane..." he said turning around to look at her seriously. "Did you ask him about **it**?"

Amane's face fell. "Well, no. I didn't. We were talking and I just sort of forgot..."

The man sighed, sounding slightly frustrated. "We **need** to know if he still has it, Amane. It's crucial-"

"Yes, I know," Amane cut in, sounding a little aggravated herself. "You've told me about a million times, but what will you do if he **doesn't** have it?"

"Well then, we'll have to go find it. But I doubt he would have simply gotten rid of something I gave him, no matter how much he doesn't like me. Besides, he has to know how valuable it is."

"So what if he sold it?" Amane asked. "You said it was made of solid gold, didn't you?"

"He might have, but I would rather he have not. However, if you find out he doesn't have it, you must ask him what he did with it- get all the details. But, like I said before, I don't think he would have sold it. He's not a boy overly-concerned with money; this I know. But first of all, I need you to find out for certain, okay?"

"Okay, Father," said Amane. "I'll remember to ask next time. But..." she paused giving her father a critical look. "What if he doesn't want to give it up?"

The father considered her for a moment, then said, "We'll take it from him- with force if we have to. But I don't think we'll have to resort to that; it's just a hunk of metal to him and besides, I'm the one he got it from."

"Just don't... hurt him really bad, okay, Father?" Amane said in a worried tone.

The man smiled. "You know I wouldn't hurt my own son, Amane- permanently, at least."

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Please r and r!


	19. Costume Trouble

So I finally got chapter 19 out. This one's a little longer than the last two(a VERY little), but... ;O;

Oh, I just really needed to say this and I forgot to last chapter, so...

Rant(feel free to skip over): So about that episode a couple Saturdays ago... Mahad: "But what Bakura has failed to mention is that EVERY person in his village was EVIL!" Yami Bakura's like, "And it was terrible watching all my people die(aka: get their souls taken)!" Mahad: "But they were EVIL!" (shakes head) Does anyone else get the feeling that the dubs(or are the original Japanese anime people in on this scandal?) are promoting some bad principles here? XD

'Nyways...

dArkliTe-sPirit: LOL, yes that's what I was thinking. Though maybe a bit more mild version XD So, I was thinking, 'Hm, maybe I should make Bakura's dad a well-rounded, just-makes-mistakes-sometimes type of character. Naw...'

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 19: Costume Trouble

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So the next few days came and went and before anyone knew it, it was Tuesday evening- the eve of All Hallow's Eve. Everyone was scrambling to get a costume together before tomorrow night- some putting the finishing touches on costumes they'd had planned weeks in advance while others would be thankful if they could just get **a** costume.

The pair of Yugis fell into the first category and it was a good thing they did or their lack of cooperation at the moment might have prevented them from being too productive...

"Yami, we** have** to find something else to put in this costume."

/It is somewhat revealing,-/ the yami admitted ruefully. /But it won't be authentic if we add too much. Remember, Yugi, you're the one that picked it out in the first place./

"And I'm starting to see what a mistake that was," Yugi muttered. Yugi didn't mean to be rude about the materials his other had gathered for their costume, but there was NO WAY he was going out in public with nothing but sandals and a thin-linen skirt.

"Why can't I just wear a white shirt and some shorts underneath?" Yugi asked for about the millionth time.

"I already said: those things aren't in this picture, Aibou..."

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In the next room, Bakura and his yami were also having costume trouble...

"Um, what is it?" I asked, looking at my yami with knitted eyebrows.

/What do you mean, 'what is it?'? It's our costume, Fool./

"Oh," I said, looking back down at the mass of thick, brown cloth. I bent down and held it up to get a better look at it.

/Well?-/ my yami pressed.

"It looks hot and itchy," I said truthfully. "Er, what am I dressing up as again?"

/A grim reaper,-/ he replied.

Oh, that helped. "What's that?" I asked.

The yami sighed irritably and repeated/A grim reaper, Host. They're like the Western version of a shinigami./

"I'm going to be a shinigami?" I asked, making a face. Swell, I make sure people die when they're supposed to. That doesn't sound too morbid.

/No, we're going to be a grim reaper; there's a difference. And where would the grim reaper be without his scythe?-/ The yami jabbed at the bed. /So I got one for you- it's under there./

I set the heavy cloak on the floor and fished around under my bed for a moment until my hand brushed against something sharp.

"Ow!" I jerked my arm back up and examined my finger. "I'm bleeding!" I said after a moment, sending the spirit an accusing look and wishing that somehow he'd be ashamed of himself.

/Weakling,-/ he sneered and took control of my body temporarily to drag the scythe easily out and into the middle of the floor.

As I regained my senses I stared at the thing in horror. "Yami, I am not going to carry a **three foot** knife around with me!"

The yami went suddenly violent, baring his teeth and growling slightly as he shoved his nose within an inch of mine. /I went to a lot of trouble to get it, Host... and you are **not** going to waste all that work I did,-/ he hissed, his eyes narrowed.

We glared at each other for a moment, then I deflated.

As he sensed my surrender he went back to his usual, sarcastic and twisted-humored self, and pulled away from me, giving me breathing space again.

I rolled my eyes and reached down, grabbing hold of the handle.

/Pah-thetic,-/ said the yami a moment later as he watched me strain to pick it up.

I released the handle and straightened up, glaring. "This thing weighs a ton! How am I going to tote this thing around with me all night tomorrow?"

He rolled his eyes at me. /It's solid steel, Vessel. What did you expect?-/

I sighed. Any ordinary person would be content to buy one of those plastic ones at the store, but nooo- I have to get stuck with the ex-tomb robber who insists on having a ninety-pound, **solid steel**, authentic version.

"I'm not going to be able to carry this," I said.

He shrugged. /Is it **my** fault you're so effeminate, Host? Work out. Ra knows you could use one.../

Is he somehow trying to infer that I'm fat?

Frowning in annoyance at my yami, I happened to glance over his shoulder and get a look at the clock. I gasped.

"I'm going to be late for my meeting with Ishizu!"

The spirit grinned as he watched me scramble towards the door and dash out of my bedroom. I paused and stuck my head back in. "We'll finish this later," I said crossly and his grin broadened.

Yugi stuck his head out his door and called after me as I blew down the stairs, "Where are you going, Bakura?"

"Out!" I called over my shoulder, nearly tripping and falling down the staircase.

"How long are you going to be out?-!" he asked, his voice growing fainter as I reached the game shop area and was going through it.

"Late!" I yelled, raising my voice a little higher before I exited the game shop, slamming the door behind me.

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"Sorry I'm late!"

Ishizu smiled. "That's all right, Bakura," she said as Bakura entered the small coffee shop, gasping and wheezing. "Are you ready?"

"Yes... I am," Bakura said, flopping into the seat across from her and pulling his dueling deck out of his pocket. "And... how are you today?"

"Fine, and you?" Ishizu said, exchanging their usual politenesses as she shuffled her own deck.

Bakura shook his head, and waited to get his breath back before going on. "I'll be a little better after Halloween is over. My yami's going to make me dress up as a shinigami..."

Ishizu gave him a sympathetic look. "I'll be sure not to comment on it tomorrow if it bothers you," she said.

Bakura was busy trying to figure out whether she was being sincere or not when he suddenly realized what she was inferring. "You mean you're going tomorrow?" he asked, startled.

"Well, yes. Malik invited me and since he's forcing Odion to go, there's really no reason for me **not** to..." Well, more like she'd take any excuse to take some time off from her fast food job, but she didn't really need to go into that.

"Oh, I see," Bakura seemed to be trying to act airy, but Ishizu thought he appeared somewhat pleased. "That'll be nice, won't it?"

Ishizu shrugged. Then, trying to be casual, she asked, "So do you think your friend will be going?"

Bakura looked thoroughly confused. "What? You mean Yugi? Yes, probably..."

Ishizu forced a smile and it was her turn to act as though it didn't really matter. "No, I meant- Well, Malik said he helped reunite you with someone and I assumed..."

Bakura shook his head. "I don't know who he could mean..."

"He said her name was Amanu, or-"

Bakura suddenly raised his eyebrows in understanding. "Oh, my sister Amane? I didn't know Malik helped reunite me with her..."

Ishizu turned her full attention to Bakura. She was his **sister**? Oh, when Ishizu got a hold of her little brother...

"No, she won't be going with us. Actually, when I told her I was going trick-or-treating with my friends, I think she made it pretty clear how childish she thought it was." Bakura gazed off into space, frowning a little as he thought.

Ishizu shook her head. "Maybe it is, but some older people have to take the young ones, so as long as we have Malik..."

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So I guess I'll cut it off there, so we can start right off with Halloween next time. :D

Btw, I happened to be looking over the previous chapters of this fic and they really spoke to me. (_rewrite us... REWRITE US..._) ;O; It's just not fair. But I must resist the urge for now... Hmmm... maybe I'll make it into a summer project or something. XD

Anyways, please r and r!


	20. Halloween Preparation

Sorry I took so long to update! (it's been more than a month; I went over my dead line D: ) I haven't really even been thinking about fanfiction that much lately and I didn't even get started on this until I looked at the date and I'm like, 'uh-oh... It's been a month since I updated. I should probably start that now UuU) But the good news is I'm back into the swing of this fic. I was looking over the chapters (again XD) and I was like, ':0 this fic had more plot development than I thought! ...Or potential for plot development I didn't notice before... ': ' XD So, yeah, now I'm all excited...

dArkliTe-sPirit: I want one too! ;O;' I wanted to get a real scythe for myself for Halloween and dress up as the Grim Reaper, but I never got around to it XD Thanks for saying so; I dunno, I already re-posted chapter one, but I think I'll leave the other ones. D:

ArraMidnight: Thanks! Yeah, I like Ishizu. She's cool. D: Don't worry; I intend to write a lot more. ;D

Thank you both for reviewing! It means a lot :'D

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 20: Halloween Preparation

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"Are you ready yet, Sister?" Malik called through Ishizu's closed bedroom door for about the millionth time.

"I told you, we've got plenty of time!" came Ishizu's muffled reply.

Malik sighed loudly and shook his head. "Why is it girls always take longer to get dressed than anyone else?" he asked his step brother as he walked into the living room where Odion was sitting, dressed in the rare hunter garb he'd worn in Battle City.

Before Odion could answer, another person made her feelings known.

"I resent that."

Malik turned his head just in time to see Serenity enter the room, already in her costume and ready to go.

Malik stared at her for a moment. "Um, what are you supposed to be?" he asked.

Serenity rolled her eyes. "Come on, Malik. I'd think the white skirt and blouse would be a give away!"

"A dental assistant?" Malik guessed, but at that moment, Ishizu came up behind Serenity. Malik's mouth dropped slightly.

"I'm a nurse!" Serenity said indignantly, but quickly turned her head to see what Malik was gawking at.

"What... is **that**?" Malik asked, starting to snicker.

"It's my costume, Dear Brother," Ishizu answered, giving him a poisonous look.

"You... You look like a gypsy!" Malik burst out, shaking with laughter.

"Well, that's what I'm supposed to be," she said, feeling her face growing hot. She'd just **known** this was a bad idea...

Ignoring Malik, Serenity piped up, "Well, I think it looks good!"

Ishizu stopped glaring at her brother and sighed deeply, shaking her head. "Thanks anyway, Serenity," she muttered.

"Wow, Ishizu," said Malik, still grinning. "Wow. It's just so... not you."

Ishizu gave him another dirty look and, resisting the urge to make a comment about **his **costume, turned to the door. "We'd better start out now," she said. "We're supposed to be at the Game Shop in twenty minutes..."

"Oh, man. I can't **wait **to see what the others say," Malik said happily.

Ishizu's eye twitched.

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"Bakura, stop pacing like that; it's enough to make anybody nervous."

Bakura turned his head to look at where Yugi was standing on the stairway.

"Sorry, Yugi," said Bakura. "Just anxious for them to get here is all..." Then, eying Yugi's costume said, "Oh? You're an Egyptian; excellent choice!"

Yugi grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. Actually, I'm supposed to be a Pharaoh."

"Even better," Bakura said, smiling.

Yugi looked back down at his own costume and smiled slightly. He and his yami had finally come to an agreement about the costume. Yami had allowed Yugi to exchange the linen skirt for a more Roman-ish toga. The thicker material, and the fact that it covered **all** of his legs made Yugi feel less exposed (he still wore some jeans underneath just for good measure, though) and it also covered most of his small chest. Of course, they had had to really dress him up with so much gold and jewelry to make sure no one could possibly mistake him for Caesar. Plus, they added a headdress and some Egyptian symbols here and there, just for good measure. But Yugi could live with those things, making it a good compromise. He was glad that Yami was satisfied as well.

Bakura, on the other hand, seemed to not have been as fortunate as to have used the 'c' word with** his** yami. The thick, heavy cloth he'd looked at yesterday hung about his frail shoulders and he had been walking with the giant, metal scythe clunking it's end against the floor all the while. After a while of walking around in it, he decided that the he hot, itchy cloak he could live with, but the scythe was going to take some getting used to. Still, it could turn out to be useful- he'd already found that it made a nice walking stick.

Bakura's pale skin shown from underneath his heavy hood and Yugi shivered, finding the effect it had on his friend to be somewhat unnerving.

"And would you mind taking that hood off?" Yugi added. "It really creeps me out."

"Sorry," Bakura apologized again. "Say, Yugi, do you think they'll be here soon?"

Yugi sighed, temporarily forgetting the hood. "I told you, they aren't supposed to be here for another hour at least. Why are you so excited anyway?"

"N-No reason, really," Bakura said, coloring.

Yugi was about to say something in reply when the jingle of the door distracted him.

The two boys turned and were a little surprised to see Mai come strolling into the Game Shop, dressed as an Amazon Warrior.

"Hello, Mai," said Yugi, his voice suddenly deeper and smoother.

Bakura glanced over and was a little surprised to see that Yami had assumed control.

"That's a nice costume," he said with a slight smirk on his face as he eyed the low cleavage. "How are you?" he asked her.

"Oh, I've been doing alright," she answered distracted, her attention on Bakura. "Is that you under there, Bakura? You're here even earlier than I am. Any particular reason?"

Bakura shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, well..."

"Bakura's just anxious to get started," said Yami, sharing a significant look with Bakura before Bakura flushed, looking away in shame.

"Anyway- Mai- I'm glad you're here early. Would you mind coming upstairs with me? I got some new cards recently that I wanted to show you..."

Yami led Mai upstairs leaving Bakura to stand there with feelings of mixed guilt and shame.

He bit his lip, and, trying to ignore it, he shrugged slightly to himself and began to pace once again, the steady 'clunk, clunk, clunk' of his scythe against the tile floor resuming as well.

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It was quite a while before Mai and Yami came back downstairs and by that time, Duke, dressed as a vampire, had already arrived.

As Bakura was the only one there when he came in (twenty minutes early, just to make sure he got there before Tristan for when Serenity arrived, of course), Bakura was treated to 'one-hundred and one things that make Duke such a popular lady's man' (over half of which, consequently, had something to do with the immense game shop he owned).

Really, Bakura had nothing against Duke, but by the time they reached the late-teens Bakura had begun to shift uncomfortably (though, he still didn't stop nodding and smiling), desperate for some sort of escape.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Yami and Mai came back downstairs and Duke left to greet them.

Bakura glanced hopefully at the door again. It was less than ten minutes until everyone was supposed to be here...

Just as he turned to look back at Duke conversing with Yami and Mai, a small jingling sounded as two familiar people entered.

"Hey, Serenity!" Duke said, ignoring Malik entirely, who'd come in right behind her. "How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," said Serenity, looking a little uncomfortable and glancing around as if looking for something.

"Hello to you too, Malik," Bakura said kindly; however, Malik ignored him, preoccupied by something else it seemed.

"Wait 'till you see!" he said, grinning from ear to ear.

"See what?" Mai asked, sounding as mystified as Bakura felt.

"Ishizu's **costume**," he said. "It looks soo funny on her!"

Bakura's attention became a little more acute and he felt his face grew warm. Bakura shook his head. What was wrong with him?

Bakura distracted himself with thinking how much he resented the tone of delight Malik had taken when making fun of Ishizu's costume.

Mai did not miss the fiendishness either and snorted at Malik. "Well, whatever she's dressed up as, at least it won't be as bad as..." She eyed the heavy stick with the ball of metal at one end that Malik was resting against his shoulder. "Malik, are you supposed to be a **golfer**?" she asked incredulously.

Malik nodded emphatically. "Yep! Sure am. When I found out that **this** thing came with-" he twirled the golf club around- "I just couldn't resist."

Mai rolled her eyes slightly and shook her head, grinning. "Well, at least she's not a **golfer**," she concluded. Mai reached forward and rubbed a piece of the collar of Malik's polo shirt as though testing the fabric, and suddenly pulled back as though she found it extremely filthy.

Malik grinned, pleased with Mai's little game and started to reply, but was cut off as the bell rang for the third time that evening as Odion and Ishizu entered the game shop.

Odion, dressed in his old Battle City garb, did not attract much attention as everyone's gaze flew to Ishizu.

There was a temporary silence before Mai finally stepped forward, grinning broadly. "You look great, Hon. You ought to wear bright colors more often."

"Your costume is indeed well done," Yami put in.

"Yes! It looks very charming on you, Ishizu," Duke quipped, giving her a full ten seconds of his attention before turning back to Serenity again.

The others soon lost interest as well (or perhaps, simply saw how uncomfortable Ishizu was) and turned back to their conversations.

Bakura, however, was standing by himself and had nothing to distract him.

From the moment she entered the game shop, Bakura had felt a bright pink color creeping its way up his face.

Ishizu glanced about the room and quickly spotted Bakura, though his face was mostly obscured by his hood. She chose not to approach him, however, until Malik turned his attention away from her and, grinning from ear to ear showing how pleased he was with the reception Ishizu's costume had received (after all, it wasn't like he'd been expecting everyone to laugh at her or anything- he'd just been looking forward to the attention she rarely received all on her and her obvious embarrassment) focused his attention on forcing his way into Duke and Serenity's 'conversation'.

Bakura did not look at her, busying himself with attending to the giant blade of his scythe, running his fingers over it as though testing how sharp it was.

Ishizu stood there for a moment, shifting from one foot to the other, as she waited for him to notice her. However, he did not and continued to run his fingers over the blade.

"Bakura?" she said quietly.

Bakura jumped slightly, cutting his finger with the sudden movement. "Ah, itai!" he cried under his breath.

"Sorry," Ishizu said apologetically.

"Not your fault," Bakura muttered, barely audible.

"What?" Ishizu asked, not catching what he'd said.

Instead of repeating himself, Bakura just shook his head slightly and shrugged as if to say, 'I didn't say anything.'

"Anyway, I'd better go put something on it. Wait here, I'll be right back," said Bakura, glad to have the large hood which concealed the deep crimson color on his face.

"Well- all right-" Ishizu said, but he was already gone. Ishizu sighed slightly to herself. He must be angry with her...

Meanwhile, Bakura made his way up the staircase to the bathroom on the second floor. Leaning his scythe against one of the walls, Bakura rummaged though the medicine cabinet until he found the band-aids along with some disinfectant.

As he set them on the counter, he finally got fed up with his hood which was greatly obscuring his vision and yanked the thing off. After he did this, he examined himself in the mirror. The hood had seriously messed up his hair, but at least his face was cooling off now. It had returned for the most part, to its usual pale rather than dark red.

Honestly, what was**wrong** with him? He'd been looking forward to seeing Ishizu and when she'd actually came he'd become completely choked up...

Bakura applied the disinfectant to the wound, wincing slightly as it stung.

He'd been totally idiotic. A total loser-- first he'd cut himself then he'd run off with the excuse that he had to dress it. Honestly, it was a **scratch**. Now it would be so embarrassing to got back down there. He looked down at the band-aid he'd put on it and considered for a moment ripping it off and telling Ishizu it hadn't been as bad as he'd thought.

In the end, he decided against it and, pulling his hood back (he was feeling self-conscious now and it hid the emotions that his face would so readily betray), started toward the door.

He frowned at it as it leaned up against the wall where he'd left it.

"This is all your fault," he told it resentfully.

/Don't blame the scythe,-/ said a voice and Bakura jumped.

"Why not?" Bakura muttered.

/Because it is nothing more than an inanimate object of pure beauty and elegance,-/ said the yami and Bakura turned his head to look incredulously at the ghostly form beside him. The yami looked exactly like Bakura except without the heavy cloak. The spirit was giving the scythe a look of fondness that Bakura had never seen him give any human being.

Bakrua rolled his eyes and turned to look back at the scythe. /I know that,-/ he said defensively.

However, Yami Bakura ignored him, still not finished it seemed. /The scythe didn't make you so blasted eager to impress that wench,-/ he said quietly.

Bakura suddenly tensed and spun around to face his yami. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded. "Are.. Are you inferring that... that I...?"

/I'm saying that you aren't facing up to your feelings, Host,-/ said the spirit, watching Bakura's indignance out of the corner of his eye.

"What feelings are there to face up to?" Bakura asked. "Ishizu and I are just **friends** and-"

Yami Bakura's gaze snapped to face his host, his eyes narrowed, his lips pursed and Bakura fell silent.

The spirit could no longer put this off; he could be silent no longer-

/I'm not simply referring to your present relationship with the tomb keeper,-/ he said coldly/but to your reaction to things in general. You refuse to deal with the way you feel; instead, you simply pretend you don't feel it at all- you don't appear to realize this./

Bakura shifted nervously and shook his head, trying to appear completely mystified. He frowned at his other. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "What to you mean 'I refuse to deal'?"

The yami gazed right back into Ryou's eyes and Ryou flinched slightly, his gaze dropping to the floor.

/How do you refuse to deal? Well, for starters, what about when you moved in with Yugi?-/ There was no smugness in the yami's voice as Bakura would have expected, only cold recital of facts.

"What... What does that have to do with anything?" Bakura muttered, still looking at the floor. "I know I feel a little uncomfortable, but-"

/You feel as though you are being forced to feel indebted to little Yugi, but that would be ungrateful so you pretend you're afraid of intruding upon him./

Bakura shook his head a second time and let his gaze drift to the scythe, still leaning against the wall. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said hoarsely.

/You pretend that you aren't disturbed by your sister's derisive comments concerning your participating tonight in what is considered a tradition for children,-/ he continued/or the warmness toward your father she holds that he most decidedly doesn't deserve./

Bakura shook his head, and still refused to make eye contact. "You're mistaken," he mumbled.

/Even now, you deny to yourself that you are disturbed by what I say,-/ the yami said quietly.

Bakura could feel his face flushing again- this time, from anger.

"You're wrong," he said coldly. "You're wrong. You're-" but as he turned his head to look at his yami he saw that he had gone.

Bakura bit his lip. His first thought was to tell himself that his feeling was that it didn't matter what his yami thought and that he wasn't about to let his yami's false accusations ruin his evening.

But, as he picked up his scythe, he felt his chest hurting. He didn't like it when his yami was angry with him; it made him feel sad and uneasy.

He looked down at the scythe and caressed it slightly. /It is very nice,-/ he said kindly, but the barrier his yami had put up between them didn't budge.

Sighing, Bakura adjusted his hood so that it came down far enough to obscure his face from view (well, facial expressions were hidden at least) and walked slowly back toward the staircase.

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Sorry I didn't all of Halloween in! I meant to, but this chapter was getting too long D:

Please r and r!


	21. An Unsuccessful Outing

Uh. D: So I went a little over my deadline again... (LOL, three- fourmonths? xD I'm so bad). But the good news is I didn't actually abandon this fic completely ;D.

TsukiroKetto Queen of rants: xD! Yaya! I'm glad, thanks :D

dArkliTe-sPirit: xD! Good call ;D

ArraMidnight: Yeh, we will :D (Marik? Yeh, I don't remember either D: j/k ;D sort of...) xD Yeah, we sort of find out... I think D: xD

5animefan: I dunno (anything you can imagine ;D )

Thank you everyone for reviewing! -:DDDDDDDD

communication between host(hikari) and yami:- /.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 21: An Unsuccessful Outing

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Ishizu paced back and forth anxiously as she waited for Bakura. She hoped that he hadn't hurt himself too badly... But he certainly had been gone a long time. What was going on...?

Ishizu let herself be a distracted for a moment as Joey and Téa entered the game shop.

Yami and Mai greeted them, though somewhat stiffly, but Serenity, Duke, and Malik quickly made up for the former two's coldness by being as warm and friendly as ever.

Malik joked that his golf club could probably break Joey's samurai sword in two should Joey ever question his authority- which it probably could considering Malik's was a real, metal golf club, while Joey's sword was made out of aluminum foil (not that that stopped Joey from refusing to 'submit to Malik's authority' anyway).

Téa and Joey both commented on Ishizu's gypsy costume and Ishizu smiled appreciatively at them, though she got a little distracted as she noticed Mai's glare at Téa that said all too well that she'd like nothing better than to tell Téa what she thought of her witch's costume.

Ishizu was relieved when Bakura finally came back down, the steady 'clunk, clunk, clunk' of his scythe against the stairs. As he reached the bottom and as she greeted him, she thought he seemed to be acting a little odd compared to the way he'd acted earlier.

"Did you get it treated all right?" Ishizu asked.

"What?" Bakura said suddenly, being snapped out of his thoughts before he remembered the reason he'd gone up there in the first place. "Oh, yes," he said, blushing. "Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought."

Ishizu smiled, though she didn't miss the fact that he seemed rather distracted, and said, "That's good." She decided to try and start a conversation and asked, "So, how have things been going with your sister?"

_'You pretend that you aren't disturbed by your sister's derisive comments concerning your participating tonight in what is considered a tradition for children- or the warmness toward your father she holds that he most decidedly doesn't deserve.' _Bakura bit his lip, trying not to think about his other's words from earlier. "Oh- she's fine," said Bakura, forcing a smile. "So- So have you gotten any good cards lately?"

Ishizu noticed the abrupt change of subject, but didn't comment. It wasn't really any of her business anyway. "No, I haven't bought any new cards for my deck in awhile," she said, answering his question.

"Oh," said Bakura. "Well, I haven't either."

A moment of silence followed.

Ishizu couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. Even though she couldn't see his face... had something happened upstairs? But he would have been all alone, so what could have...? Before she had the chance to ask him if he was all right, however, Bakura spoke again.

"So, is everyone almost here?" He glanced around at their friends conversing with one another in the crowded game shop.

"Almost. Joey and Téa came while you were gone..." Ishizu said, while still giving Bakura a slightly concerned look.

Bakura tried to find something to focus on to distract himself, and started looking around the whole game shop, trying to think of who hadn't arrived yet.

Even if some- or all- of the things his yami had said were true, he resolved not to think about them tonight. He'd just have a fun time with his friends... with Ishizu...

"Hey, I think they're finally here," said Yami.

"Who were we waiting for?" Duke asked.

"Tristan was bringing over a little friend of ours," said Yami, smiling slightly.

"Who?" asked Malik curiously, but just then, two people entered the game shop.

"Sorry we're late guys," said Tristan (who was dressed as a werewolf). "But **he**-" he threw a dirty look at the short figure next to him- "wasn't where he was supposed to be on time."

"Hey, I'd like to see **you** get through all that security- I'm supposed to be grounded, you know."

"Hey, Mokuba!" Téa greeted. "Cute costume."

"What did you do to get grounded?" Malik asked, grinning.

"Malik!" Ishizu cried, giving her brother a reprimanding look.

"What?" Malik asked defensively. "It was just a question."

"I made him celebrate his birthday," Mokuba said ruefully.

Téa and Serenity both looked shocked for a moment, then giggled.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me at all," said Téa, grinning.

"Hey, Mokuba, if Kaiba's so mean to ya, why would'you dress up as him?" Joey asked, eying Mokuba's miniature white trench coat.

"Oh, come on, Joey," said Téa, grinning and lightly slapping his shoulder. "Do you really need to ask that?"

Yami cleared his throat loudly. "All right, I believe we are all here now, so if everyone's got their bags, let there be no further delay."

"Yeah, let's go!" Joey agreed, pumping his fist into the air, enthusiastically.

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Late that night, long after the full moon had risen, the group of trick-or-treaters was heading back to the Game Shop. The night had gone fairly smoothly (everyone had gotten a full bag of candy) with the exceptions of when Malik had almost clubbed some poor drunk prankster over the head with his golf club, and when Joey and Tristan got into an argument with a couple of muscular-looking ghouls. Luckily, incidents had been avoided in both cases.

Everyone was feeling like close friends again, the way they'd felt before the whole Téa-and-Joey-started-going-out thing.

Ishizu walked a little behind the group and Bakura fell back into step with her.

"Hello," he said, smiling. "Did you have a good time?"

"Oh, yes," said Ishizu, smiling back. "And you?"

"Yes, fine," Ryou answered, turning away from her a moment and sighing a little. In truth, he was a little worried. His yami hadn't asked for control all evening (it was Halloween after all, a night meant for scaring other people and causing havoc in general) or even talked to him for that matter. Was he really that angry with him? Bakura was used to the spirit doing things abruptly and having apparent violent mood swings ('apparent' because his other didn't actually have the mood swings and only acted that way when he was trying to get a reaction he wanted from someone else).

Was it possible that the spirit was **that** worried about him? But no, the spirit was probably only annoyed by all his pathetic host's horribly obvious flaws...

"...Bakura?"

Bakura snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention back to Ishizu. "Yes? I'm sorry, what...?" He hadn't meant to go off into his own little world... She must think he was a real space case.

"Oh, it's nothing," she replied. "It's just... is something bothering you? You seem a little distracted."

"No, nothing's wrong," Bakura said quickly. Then, changing the subject, asked, "So, ah... how's it been going at the museum? Anything new happen?"

Ishizu gave him a slightly odd look, but decided not to press him.

"Well, now that you mention it, Odion's been putting in a lot of hours at the museum to get this new project we received done." She felt a little guilty as she thought about it; she hadn't helped hardly at all. "The owner wanted it done all of sudden, but I don't know-"

She stopped abruptly and both she and Bakura turned their attention to Joey and Duke, who seemed to be having some kind of argument.

"-get what the big deal is," Duke was saying.

"Hey, I don't care what ya' do, so long as it don't involve my siste'," Joey said loudly.

"I was just holding her hand!" Duke defended. "You don't mind, do you Serenity?" Duke beamed at Serenity.

"Uhh..." said Serenity, hoping that someone would spare her from being dragged into this.

"Don't put her on the spot like that," said Tristan, rescuing her. "Of _course_ she doesn't want to hold your hand!"

"And you think she wants to hold yours?" Joey asked, giving his friend a suspicious look.

"T-That's not what I was thinking..." Tristan muttered.

"Come on, Wheeler," said Duke reaching for Serenity's hand again. "You already have Téa; don't be so greedy!"

The three continued to bicker obliviously, but Téa noticed Yami's expression darken, while Mai looked away coldly. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of anything that would be helpful. One part of her just wanted to yell, "Oh, just get over it already you two!" while the other part just felt ashamed and like such a traitor she could never apologize enough to make up for it.

She decided finally that **anything**was better than nothing and opened her mouth to speak, but...

"All right, I'm taking off," Mai said suddenly, turning around.

"Uh, hey wait, Mai," said Joey, nervously clearing his throat as he apparently decided that this was more important than the argument. "Don't go yet-"

"I'll accompany you," said Yami, ignoring Joey as well. The two sped off and disappeared around a corner, leaving a heavy atmosphere behind them.

Téa looked sadly at the ground while Joey sighed in frustration, neither making eye contact with anyone.

There was an awkward silence before Malik, munching on a piece of candy no less, finally said, "What's the matter with everybody?"

They rounded the same corner Mai and Yami had earlier with Ishizu telling Malik off for eating too much candy on a school night (of course Malik's selective hearing kicked in again and he didn't listen to a word of it).

Duke had stopped trying to hold Serenity's hand (even he had **some** sense of what was appropriate and what wasn't) and instead came up next to Bakura.

"Hey, Bakura," said Duke. "I just happened to wonder, do you have a ride back to your place? If not, I've got room in my car..."

"O-Oh, yes!" Bakura said quickly, caught off guard by the question. "Thank you, but I already... I mean, I'm fine..." Bakura flushed slightly and didn't make eye contact.

His yami scoffed from his soul room and Bakura sighed sadly.

"Okay... if you say so," said Duke, giving Bakura an odd look.

Ishizu also gave Bakura a questioning look. It just seemed so unlike him, but she could almost swear that he was acting like he had something to hide...

"And I'll be the one taking you home, kid," Tristan said, looking at Mokuba, who was busy looking just as confused at how everyone had gotten upset as Malik had, but, unlike Malik, he'd kept quiet.

"Yeah," he said, snapping out of it. "I just really hope Seto doesn't realize I went out."

"Let us all hope so," said Tristan, laughing a little.

As they reached the Game Shop, they saw that Mai's blue car was already gone and Yami wasn't around either, which meant he'd probably already gone into the game shop.

Everyone said their goodbyes before they all left, Mokuba on Tristan's motorcycle, Téa and Joey in Duke's car, and the Ishtars along with Serenity in their own car.

Malik (who was munching on what was probably his tenth piece of candy) waved especially enthusiastically at Duke's car calling, "Bye! Hope you're more cheerful next time we see you! Bye!"

Everyone in the Ishtar car looked a little embarrassed and finally Ishizu reached over and snatched his bag of candy. Malik wasn't very pleased. ("No fair, Ishizu! I haven't eaten that many yet!")

Soon everyone was gone, leaving Bakura standing all alone in the dim light of the game shop. He sighed slightly.

"_I'm saying you aren't facing up to your feelings, Host!"_

He shook his head, trying not to think about, but then stopped sighing sadly again. "And what's wrong with with that?" he asked aloud. "Isn't it still early... so what's wrong with a little denial?"

He bit his lip. He wished the spirit would come back and talk to him again. The argument had left them on bad terms and it gave him an unsettled feeling inside.

Now that the moment was long over and he had time to really think about it, he couldn't help but feel that the spirit had a point. He had been sort of avoiding things lately. Maybe, in times of peace when right and wrong, good and evil wasn't so clearly defined... maybe** that** was when he struggled.

Now he really wished he hadn't been so defensive earlier; it was just that his yami's unusually accusatory tone had taken him by surprise and got him worked up...

Bakura shook his head slightly and walked into the game shop, his head bowed.

He slowly closed the door behind him, sighing heavily.

"I'm back Yugi!" he called. He opened his eyes, prepared to go through the game shop and up the stairs to his room, but stopped, staring in surprise.

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/Yami?-/ Yugi called to his other, biting his lip. His other had been deep in thought for a long time and Yugi was afraid of disturbing him, but he couldn't wait any longer.

/Hmm? Yes, what is it, Yugi?-/ he replied, though he still seemed a little distracted.

/Yami... we can't keep going on like this,-/ Yugi said.

/Going on like what?-/ Yami responded.

Yugi bit his lip, gazing at the ghostly image of his other self, sitting on the edge of the bed.

/I mean we shouldn't keep giving Téa and Joey the cold shoulder like this... It isn't right./

When the spirit didn't answer, Yugi pressed on/Yami, I'm starting to think that this isn't so much about you and Mai being genuinely jealous, as it is you guys getting revenge.-/ Yugi waited for his yami's reaction. He'd been too afraid to suggest it before, but he couldn't just sit by...

Yami gave Yugi a slightly surprised look for a moment- then actually smiled. /You know, Yugi. I really think you've hit the nail on the head.-/ His expression became more serious and he went on/I don't know about Mai, but now that you've said that, I think I... I feel angry at them- but more because I feel they should apologize in some way for what they did, even if it wouldn't make sense for them to and it doesn't even hurt me anymore.-/ He sighed deeply, then smiled again. /So I guess you could say it's just me being stubborn./

Yugi laughed, glad that his other wasn't angry with him. /Could it be that without some evil villain bent on world conquest that you're just looking for someone to be the bad guy?-/

Yami chuckled. /Yes, that could be it./ He turned away from Yugi again and added softly/But I can't lie to myself- I still don't feel ready to forgive them, even if I know it's unfair./

Yugi sighed sadly and answered/I never thought I'd say this, but I think a regular bad guy is what we need- someone we'd all have to work together against. Then maybe things would go back to normal.-/

Yami's expression suddenly darkened. /Yes, speaking of 'bad people', what do you think **she** could be wanting?-/

Yugi moaned slightly and shook his head. /You're hopeless, Yami. You aren't talking about Bakura's sister again?-/

Yami nodded. /I am. For one, what was so urgent that she needed to come so late at night? It just seems a little suspicious...-/

Indeed, as Yami had come into the game shop after trick-or-treating, he'd seen none other than Amane Bakura standing there. When asked, she said that she was waiting for Bakura (Grandpa Mohto had let her in), because she had some important things to talk to her brother about. There wasn't anything particularly strange about this, except Yami's usual feeling that Bakura's sister was up to no good (come to take Bakura away from all his friends when they needed him the most, no less).

/Yugi, why don't you let me take over?-/ he said, his gaze fixed on the door.

/Why?-/ Yugi asked curiously.

/I want to know what she needed to speak to Bakura about so badly,-/ Yami answered.

"Yami!" Yugi cried aloud, looking shocked. "You aren't planning on **eavesdropping**...?"

Yami shook his head as though denying it, then said/I wouldn't do any such thing- under normal circumstances. Yugi, there's something odd- out of place. We need to be sure that Bakura isn't in danger somehow.../

/Or maybe you just want to find a reason not to let Bakura go back with his family if they want him to,-/ Yugi said slyly.

/That's not true.../

In the end, Yami won the argument (of course) and took control. The shop bell rang just as he reached the bottom of the stairs and, though he was afraid for a moment, it worked in his favor as Amane was facing the door when he got there, giving him time to dive behind the store counter.

Though he tried not to, he couldn't help but keep thinking how incredibly sneaky, and not to mention degrading, this was for someone who was once a pharaoh of Egypt. Sigh. The things he did to maintain world peace...

"Oh, Amane. What are you doing here so late?" came Bakura's voice from just inside the door of the game shop.

"Hey," Amane greeted back. "Well, I guess it could have waited until tomorrow, but I wanted to go ahead and ask you as soon as possible, so you could have a lot of time to think about it...

"Think about what?" Bakura asked.

"Well..." Amane sounded uncomfortable and there was a short pause. "I-I know you've probably gotten really close to your friends here..." she began.

Yami's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't mean...

"Yes, and?" Bakura prodded gently.

Amane muttered inaudibly to herself, sounding very nervous now and said suddenly, "F-First, before I ask you about that, while I'm here I might as well ask you- there's something Father wanted to know. It was something about... about this pendant he gave you awhile back., or something"

Yami's heart stopped. Suddenly whether or not his friend was leaving to live with his family wasn't so much the issue. Could it really be that these people were really after...?

/Come on, Yami,-/ came Yugi's voice through their link. /We don't know anything yet- asking about the Millennium Ring isn't positive proof that she's up to no good./

But Yami's bad feeling hadn't gone away; he'd had this feeling from the very beginning, but he hadn't bothered to act or find out more, because a part of him had assumed that it was simply his own prejudice (even if he hadn't told Yugi that). He'd been so afraid that Bakura would love these strange people more than his friends and leave that was it possible it had clouded his sight? He'd thought he was only looking for a reason to dislike them, like Yugi had said, but in reality...

He shook his head. Yugi was right; it was too early to pass judgment, but now at least he knew it would be safer to find out more.

"Yes, what about?" Bakura said, sounding as disconcerted as Yami and Yugi felt.

"I don't know, I just think he wanted to know if you had it," she said.

"Well... I have it," Bakura said slowly. "I always keep it on me, but why does he want to know?"

"Well," said Amane, in a manor that sounded as if she was trying to choose her words carefully, "Father said something about hearing it was extremely valuable and could sell it for a high price. We'd be set for life, so he said."

"No," Bakura said abruptly. "he can't have the Mille- the pendant. It means too much to me; I could never let it be sold."

"Why not? Amane asked. Her voice was light and casual, but Yami thought he could sense a little tention in it as well.

"Why does it mean so much to you if you say you dislike Father so much? If you don't plan on selling it yourself and it doesn't have sentimental value- what's so important about it?"

There was a short pause. "It just is," Bakura said simply.

"So you wouldn't give it up? No matter what?"

"No matter what," Bakura answered, his voice serious. Then, lightening up a little, said, "Now, don't ask me anymore about it. It almost makes you seem like his henchman or something." He laughed.

Amane didn't join in however and just said, "Okay then." She sounded a little reluctant as she said it. Then she spoke again, her voice going back to being nervous. "Anyway Ryou, I didn't come here to ask you about that. Ryou... I'd understand if you don't want to, but would you at least consider... Please going back to England with us?"

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So, uh D: I didn't really go into the details of their trick-or-treating. XD D: aw. But the chapter was pretty long anyway ;D

Please r and r!


	22. Typical Day at the Bar

Nobody go into shock or anything, but... I finally updated! -:D After three months, but I still came back -eventually-. I'm sorry for the long wait; I'm way too lazy. XD

**Replies to reviews**:

-HeartFout and the voices in his head: XD! I want a scythe... you're so lucky! -(even if they did take it away in the end D: -) The closest I ever had to a scythe was a real golf club... and I think maybe they -should- have taken it away from me; I don't remember being very responsible with it. XD Yeah, dumb Amane. D: -(I think I may have destroyed her non-existent character with this fic.. XD)

-Valinor's Twilight: thanks!

-TsukiroKetto Queen of rants: Wellll, I need all the practice I can get doing cliffhangers. (I read on a forum that you should have them in order to keep readers interested... and I don't usually do them, do I?-). Thanks, I'll try to get the next chapter out a little faster. -:D (unfortunately, 'try' is a very... un-obligating word... D: XD)

-dArkliTe-sPirit: XDD! Got that right ;D.

Thank you everyone who reviewed!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I upped the rating of this fic to 'T' for teen. I hate to do it in the middle of a fic like this, but this chapter is a little... iffy. It has some very minor (but still suggestive) references and the rating system says that PG/K+ shouldn't have any adult themes at all. You shouldn't worry too much about it; it's mainly just to be safe, but I thought I'd let everyone know. (hopefully I'm not driving anyone away D: -)

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 22: Typical Day at the Bar

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For Ryou, the next few days seemed to pass incredibly slowly- almost like a dream. He had a week to make a decision... only a week.

A part of him wanted to talk to Amane about it, or at least spend some more time with her before he decided, but she said that she'd be busy that week and couldn't hang out with him- the next time he'd see her was Tuesday evening, when she came to get his answer. Now he was not only limited to spending a week, but in essence his last real time with her was **already** spent if he decided to stay here after all... After all those years of being gone, she was going to being taken away again too abruptly...

On the other hand, if he **did** decide to go, he'd have to leave all his friends behind. The people with whom he'd gone through so many tough times with, people who knew about and understood the Millennium Ring... Leaving all of them behind **couldn't** be the best decision... could it? But then, it wasn't as though he'd been doing them any good; he'd just been getting in their way lately...

He found himself, rather than concentrating on the dilemma and actually coming to a definite decision, simply letting his mind flit from one memory of the people he cared about to another. He thought about Duelist Kingdom and all the times he'd spent with his friends, then he'd turn around and think about Amane and playing with her as a child. He even began to daydream, daydream of a situation that would somehow let him stay with both his friends and Amane, without being forced to decide the two...

Still, he could not put off it off forever. He **had** to make a decision- and be sure that it was the right one. With the dark spot that lurked in the back of his mind and the gently oppressive weight in his chest, he could not totally forget it anyway. The sooner he came to a decision, the easier this would be to bear, probably.

A part of him was wishing Tuesday would hurry up and come already, so he wouldn't have to keep agonizing over it and it wouldn't keep bothering him, while the other part of him hoped that time would stop and he'd never have to make the decision at all...

He **couldn't** lose Amane again- that was certain.

_/You aren't facing up to your feelings, Host./_

Ryou shook his head as he thought about his yami's words from the other day.

But... maybe he was **right**... Was it that he was truly afraid of losing his sister for the second time? Or... was he simply wanting an escape? An escape from his mixed feelings of guilt and shame staying with Yugi had brought, escape from whatever was happening to him concerning Ishizu, escape from the problem everyone was having with Téa and Joey, escape from the spirit's harsh, yet not unfair, ridicule...

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"Hmm... I see, I see..."

Ishizu gazed into the misty (not to mention grimy with dirt patches all over) crystal ball.

"Well? What do you see?" hiccuped the thin, ragged-looking man sitting across from her.

She suppressed a sigh as she tried to ignore the noisy goings-on of the bar setting right behind him.

She may have been able to see the future when she had owned the Millennium Necklace, but now she was just another fake fortune teller desperate for money... Talk about a serious blow to self-esteem. Not to mention the guilt she had about out-and-out lying to people.

"Well? What do you see, Sweetheart?" the drunk prodded again, grinning maliciously at her with yellow teeth.

Although, she could say that there were certain times when she felt a little less so.

She shot a quick glance at the bar tender (who was also her boss) standing over behind the counter and saw that he was watching her. Resisting the urge to gag, she forced on what could have almost passed for a flirtatious smile and continued, "Ah... I see... many future pleasures in store for you... Indulgences that will last a lifetime..." That's the way drunks always are, anyway.

"That sounds -hic- good," said the drunk in satisfaction.

Ishizu hoped that he would just pay then and be on his way, but she didn't get her wish as he said, "What else?"

Uhh... what else was there to say?

"You... will not be cursed with the burden of hard work..." There. Laziness. What else could he want?

"Oh good," he said, leaning back on the old chair he was sitting in with a smile. "That's good... Anything else, Honey?"

"No, I'm afraid not," said Ishizu, trying her best to look apologetic for this fact, though she honestly wasn't sure how well she succeeded.

"Okay," he said, remarkably amiable, and happily plunked his money down on the table. Getting unsteadily to his feet, he tried whistling a little (though decidedly failed) as he walked away from the grungy table Ishizu sat behind, and out of the bar.

Ishizu considered for a moment calling after him so that she could count out and give him his change, but thought better of it. She'd gotten rid of him; it was his own fault if he was too drunk to remember to get his money.

The second she was sure he was gone, she breathed a sigh of relief and the fake smile fell off her face. You'd think she would be used to this by now, but she was starting to think she would never actually adjust and she was merely taking years off her life by trying. Idly, she began to count the amount the man had left out of procedure.

She wondered what Malik- or **anyone** for that matter- would say if they saw her here. First of all, she'd lose all their respect, then Malik would probably never listen to another word she ever said, Bakura would-

She stopped abruptly, shuddering at the thought. What a ghastly thought. That was enough of that, she told herself. She needed to pay attention to her job anyway, or else she could lose it. The bartender could be rather strict (she hadn't figured out whether he was enjoying the power trip or if he was genuinely concerned about losing a few pennies).

Shaking her head to clear it, she nodded a little to herself as if to show her resolution. Her fingers moved over the combination of change and bills the man had left as she tried to put her mind on actually counting it.

Sigh... she knew if Malik were here, what he'd have to say on the subject. "That job sucks, Ishizu," he'd say.

Ishizu suppressed a smile at the thought. Suddenly she frowned down at the money she'd re-started counting for about the tenth time. She counted it again.

'No way.. that idiot ripped me off!'

Meh, just her luck... the guy had been so drunk he couldn't walk straight, but still managed to be sober enough to completely cheat her on the payments.

Making a face, she counted it a third time, just to be certain.

Suddenly, a group of older guys (mid-thirties to early forties from the looks of them) suddenly burst into booming laughter. Without thinking, Ishizu turned to look at them and saw that they were all staring at her with big grins on their faces.

"Better count your change a little faster next time," said one with a distinctive black beard that hid rather large mouth.

Turning away again, she ignored them and hastily shoved the money into the rusty metal cash box she kept just underneath the table. To her dismay however, the bartender didn't miss a thing and hurried over to the end of the counter closest to her fortune-telling table.

"That guy ripped you off?" he said looking distinctly unnerved and upset, as though he couldn't imagine anything more scandalous. "I'm afraid we'll have to take what he didn't give you out of your paycheck," he said, not look sorry at all. "Make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yes, Sir," said Ishizu through gritted teeth, telling herself she wouldn't inform any of the yamis of this little event to try to get him sent to the Shadow Realm. That wouldn't be good... this guy was one of her vital paychecks, after all.

"Hey, I'd be happy to make up the difference for ya," the guy with the beard called over just as the bar tender hurried away to take care of some other guys sitting at the other end of the counter.

Trying her best to ignore them, she focused her eyes everywhere but on the group of guys, for the first time actually **wishing** someone would come over wanting to have their fortunes told.

It was nice for them to offer to make up the difference... but she had a bad feeling that it would come with a price. People that hung around places like this always had one, especially for young women like her.

"Come on," coaxed another one of the guys. "We'll make up the difference, plus a little extra if you... do a little somethin' for us."

There was a surprise.

"There are plenty of private rooms in this joint. What do you say?" added another.

Unable to take the blatant crudeness anymore, Ishizu turned to glare at them, hoping they'd get the hint. Instead, they clapped and whistled, apparently satisfied with having got her attention.

"Hey, order me somethin' strong, would you?" said the guy with the beard to one of his buddies. Smirking a little, he glanced over at Ishizu. "And I'd be more than happy to cover the costs if our little fortune teller wants anything to drink too."

"No thanks," said Ishizu coldly without looking at them.

The guys all whistled and laughed again.

"I think she likes me," he proclaimed, grinning broadly. "Just playing hard-to-get, huh Beautiful?"

Biting her lip to keep from gagging, she wondered in annoyance why the bar-tender didn't have any **real** call-girls around; it wasn't as if she approved of them, but if they had some of them around, these guys probably wouldn't be so inclined to bother her. Practically every time she came to this job, there was always some guys like this, pestering her and refusing to leave her alone to do her job.

Still refusing to look at them, she stared at the door of the bar, hoping something would happen to distract them. Maybe someone dressed strangely would walk in, or...

She blinked. The group of guys along with the bearded guy turned around along with the rest of the bar. A tall man dressed in a cloak as black as night strode into the bar. He paused just inside the door and Ishizu guessed vaguely that he was wanting to give the bar time to take in his greatly impressive aura.

Well, this was a switch. When had her luck gotten so good? Either she'd had it coming with all the bad things happening to her, or she'd just used up her last drop of luck for the next six months.

After the brief silence, the bar broke into a sea of whispers. Even the group that had been harassing her a moment before were now muttering amongst themselves, glancing back toward the stranger.

For some unfathomable reason, this man had a decidedly intimidating presence. What was it about him?

'Probably that cloak...' Ishizu thought to herself shaking her head as she remembered Odion's Rare Hunter's costume and Bakura's Grim Reaper one. They'd been pretty frightening...

Well, she hoped this guy could distract the group long enough that she could leave without anymore hassle. She glanced up at the grimy cloak on the wall. Just a little while longer before she could leave...

"May I help you, Sir?" came the oily voice of the bartender. "Would you like anything to drink?"

The man hesitated, then slowly shook his cloaked head. He slowly scanned the bar as the entirety of the bar stared at him. But they were starting to go back to what they were doing now.

Ishizu's heart stopped as she felt the cloak's eyes fall on her. Her heart then sunk down into her stomach, her fears confirmed as he strolled haughtily over to her table. Guess she'd counted her lucky stars a little bit too soon.

He sat down and pulled back the hood of his cloak revealing a surprising normal face, save a small scar just in front of his left ear. He didn't **look** particularly special or strange... A serious expression on his face, he pulled a generous amount of money out of the deep pockets of his cloak and set it on the table.

Ishizu, so transfixed by this little show, only sat quietly in stunned silence for a while until the man finally demanded in an annoyed I-don't-have-all-day sort of tone, "My fortune."

Embarrassed, Ishizu nodded. "Yes, right."

Trying not to feel intimidated (and failing) she stared into the crystal ball, as usual only seeing a semi-recognizable version of herself and her victim (err, customer) reflected on its filthy surface.

"I... see..." she said slowly. She wanted to be careful about this guy. If she said the wrong thing, she didn't know what he would do. He was here for **some** reason it seemed...

"I see... you are... going to... inherit..." this was always a little difficult. Saying something that didn't sound **too** vague, but at the same time not saying too much so as to reveal that she didn't have the slightest clue what she was talking about. This was an even more tricky task when it came to sober people. "The ability to do what it is you want to do the most... will be yours..."

Ishizu was startled when the man suddenly jumped to his feet, looking triumphant. "I thought so!" he said, grinning broadly and, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head turned to leave. Then, pausing, he turned around and grabbed a handful of the money he'd placed on the table and shoved it in his pocket. "My change," he explained gruffly and then turned around and left, leaving the entire bar staring after him in curiosity.

Ishizu blinked at the closing bar door. That had been slightly... odd. Did that guy really think her fortunes were genuine? Man, he must be desperate...

She directed her attention down to the money the cloak had left behind and began counting it.

She didn't bother to hide her sour expression as she finished and uttered a rather unkind word that would have made her little brother proud.

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Ishizu's even more sarcastic than the last time we saw her... The OOC-ness is getting out of hand. D: (and yet, sadly, Axxonu -still- does absolutely nothing to try and change it XD )

Anyway, please r and r!


	23. Decision and Dream

I'm sorry! D: It's been three and a half months and all I have is this lamely short chapter to show for it... I'll try to make the next chapter longer.

**Replies to reviews: **

dArkliTe-sPirit: Me too... D: Maybe I describe all my random OC's the same way XD (I'm starting to forget what I've written in this fic; I hope that won't lead to too many plotholes...) XD! yep, someone had to do it.

Valinor's Twilight: Thanks for the suggestion, you're probably right. I originally decided to experiment with the bolding, because I thought it looked more... sarcastic, but now that I think about it, it probably is sort of distracting... thanks for mentioning it. ( :

TsukiroKetto Queen of rants: me neither actually. XD the only time I really like them is when I'm reading something that someone wrote awhile ago, and it just makes me excited to read the next chapter which is already there. The cliff-hangers that come without waiting. -:D (yeh, sorry this took so long, but I did get it up eventually...)

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

this means that the scene is changing(or that the chapter is either beginning or ending):-. -. -. -. -. -. -. -.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh.

Chapter 23: Decision and Dream

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Ryou walked slowly down the sidewalk as he headed home, to the Game Shop from school.

So far, his spaciness had earned him a hearing test that involved determining his capability to perceive incredibly loud sounds (he'd never known his teachers could raise their voices to such a level...), his first experience of standing outside a classroom holding a bucket full of water, and lastly, a pile of extra homework. What joy.

Since he hadn't done anything but let his mind wander a little, he thought it was entirely unfair, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it anyway... (Well, perhaps he'd let a nasty word slip when they'd tried to get his attention, but that hadn't really been _him_; was it too much to ask that someone certified with a master's degree could discern between a psychotic alter ego and an innocent boy minding his own business?-) Ryou sighed and shook his head.

He didn't like to admit it, but complaining about things, even if just mentally, made him feel a little better.

/You're awfully cheerful, considering what day it is,-/ came a voice.

/Yami!-/ Ryou cried in surprise. /So does that mean you're talking to me again?-/

/Was I ever not talking to you?-/ the spirit asked in a bored voice. /Just because I don't immediately jump to attention and fire off an answer to everyone one of your stupid comments or questions doesn't necessarily mean I'm giving you the silent treatment./

"Uh-huh," Ryou muttered, a little sarcastically. "Right." But he couldn't help but smile a little. Under normal circumstances, he would have chewed the spirit out over the abrupt take-over in the middle of school, but right now, he was just glad the spirit was back to his normal self. Besides, getting in trouble had taken his mind off things, even if just temporarily.

/Yami?-/ Ryou said tentatively, and was relieved when the spirit answered him.

/What?-/ he asked, taking on his usual annoyed tone as though he'd just been interrupted in the middle of something important. Like he had anything important to do sitting in his soul room all day.

/Uh, I... I just w-wanted to apologize.../ Ryou said hesitantly.

/Apologize for what?-/ drawled the spirit, his voice expressing a desire to draw out Ryou's discomfort as long as possible rather than try to make Ryou think he hadn't been offended after all.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes and just forget the whole thing entirely by saying, "Never mind," he pressed on. /I'm sorry. About what I said./ Before the spirit could draw this out more by telling him to elaborate further, he added/About how you were wrong. You were right. I wasn't doing things a good person would do.../

/Well, of course I was,-/ said the spirit, apparently satisfied. /I'm always right, aren't I?-/

Ryou decided he'd better not argue. He let out a breath of relief. Glad _that_ was over.

/So what do you think I should do?-/ he asked softly, staring at his feet as he walked.

/About Amane? Well, I already offered to send your father to the shadow realm. Of course, there's always the option of just sealing your sister in a game piece so that she _can't_ leave.../

/Uh, no,-/ said Ryou quickly. /I mean, should I go back with her, or should I stay here...?-/

/Oh, that's right. Today's your last day to decide, isn't it?-/ said the spirit, as though he hadn't remembered. /She's probably at the Game Shop already, waiting for you to come back and make your decision... Oh, better hurry up, Host. You're running out of time.../ Ryou could practically see his mental grin.

/Yes, I know,-/ said Ryou, trying not to sound irritable. His yami was just trying to get under his skin; the best thing to do was to ignore it. /What do you think?-/

/Hmm,-/ said the yami thoughtfully. /Let's weigh the advantages and disadvantages. If you go to England, I won't have the pitiful pharaoh and his sniveling friends to entertain me... But, then again, if you have to spend extended lengths of time with that father of yours, it will probably become a necessity for me to protect you from him. Excellent excuses for blissful malicious acts against him would arise quite often, I'm sure.../

Ryou shook his head and suppressed a grin. /Well, thanks for having my best interests at heart anyway.../

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"_So you didn't get **any** of the cards?" demanded a cold voice. The man who had spoken wore a long black cloak with chains and a white eye painted on the hood and sat upon a tall, throne-like chair. Below him, a crowd of people dressed in the same cloaks stood in a circle around except for one who was on his knees just in front of the throne._

"_How dare you come back, only to show me this failure," the man who was obviously the leader continued. "Anyone who can't carry out my orders is useless. You're useless."_

"_Pl-Please, Master..." pleaded the man. "I-I'll do better next time... just give me another chance...!"_

"_No," said the leader simply and his servant's eyes widened in horror as his master lifted the golden staff he'd been holding at his side and pointed the eye carved into it at the man._

"_No! Please Master, I-" His terrified cries were cut off as a bright flash of light filled the room and his body suddenly went limp, collapsing to the floor._

"_Someone take this old husk away," said the man in disgust and two cloaked figures came forward to drag the man's body away._

"_And you..." said the throned man, turning slightly to face one of people standing in the circle, somehow knowing who was who despite the fact that the cloaks obscured all their facial features._

"_My lord?" said the cloak, stepping forward._

"_You were supposed to provide him backup. Can **you** tell me why I don't have any new rare cards?"_

"_Forgive me," he answered with an air of eloquence that the first man had lacked. "I over-estimated my partner's capabilities and did not grant as much assistance as I should have until it was too late... I await your punishment, Master." He bowed his head, putting his hand over his heart in a show of loyalty._

_The leader smirked, pleased, though not the least bit fooled by the smoothness of the performance. "I will allow you to keep your soul for now; however-" He lifted the golden staff and brought the end close to the other man's face. He twitched his wrist and one of the sharp wing-like shapes on the end sliced a small cut in the servant's cheek, just in front of his left ear. "Always remember that you're life.. is in **my** hands."_

-.

Malik's eye snapped open and he awoke with a start. The first thing he became aware of was that his head was laying on something rather hard. The second was that someone was shaking his shoulder.

"C'mon, Malik, wake up. The bell rang like, five minutes ago- everybody's gone!"

Malik lifted his head and wiped drool and from his mouth, before looking blearily around the room.

Oh, that's right. School. It was just a dream...

He looked up to see Joey standing over him.

"Jeeze, you sleep like a rock, y' know that Malik?" he said exasperatedly.

Malik decided to ignore this comment and asked curiously, "Where's Bakura?"

"Uh, he probably left when the bell rang like everybody else. Like all the smart people." He gave Malik an annoyed look.

"Really?" said Malik in surprise. "That's weird... he's almost always there to wake me up when it's time to go home."

"D'you always sleep through the last hour of class?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hour and a half," Malik corrected him, "on good days. But I wonder why Bakura left so quickly. He's been acting pretty distracted lately. Do you think something's wrong?"

Joey shrugged. "Maybe. Or maybe he's just finally decided he ain't gonna put up with doin' whatever's convenient for you."

Normally, he would have been offended and made some sort of come back, but Malik was only partly listening. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he had the uneasy feeling that something bad was about to happen...

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Ryou walked up to toward the Game Shop, keeping his eyes on the ground in front him. He tried to slow himself down with each step, desperately trying to stall for time.

A part of him knew what his decision was; he'd know from the beginning what was best, but he didn't want to admit. He couldn't form the words in his own head, let alone to Amane...

"Ryou?" said a voice and he looked up to see Amane standing just outside the Game Shop door, as they'd known she would be.

"So have you made your decision yet?" were the first words out of her mouth as she started forward toward where he stood rooted to the spot.

He bowed his head. "Amane..." he began. "You're my little sister. You know how much I care about you, but right here is where I..." He looked up to meet Amane's eyes and was a little surprised to see that she was giving him an almost pitying look.

"Ryou... I'm sorry," she said softly.

"It's- It's okay, Amane," Ryou answered, just as softly though he wasn't entirely sure what she was apologizing for.

She shook her head, as though he had misunderstood. "No, I meant about..."

"What?" Ryou prodded, confused, then frowned a little as he noticed she was not looking at him, but rather on something just behind him.

/Host, switch places with me!-/ his yami's sudden order came urgently, but it was too late.

"Ryou, I'm sorry," she said again and, just as he began to turn his head to see what was behind him, the world went black.

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That... doesn't count as a cliff-hanger does it? D:

Please r and r.


	24. Ill Feeling

I'm so, so, SOOOOO sorry this took so long D: Since I wanted to get my other fic done before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, I was mostly working on that one... ( plus, the times I actually sat down to write this chapter, I always found I had a serious case of writer's block; I had about 500 words done for the longest time D: -)

Replies to reviews:

Valinor's Twilight: Thanks! I'll try, though now it'll be hard now that the story (finally) is getting close to the climax.

darkliTe-sPirit: D: I guess I'm just one of the many evil fanfiction authors out there ;D

Ophion Kuyashi: oh, thanks for reviewing! -:D (I know how you feel; truthfully, I don't like reviewing either, if just because ffnet has a tendency to randomly take out half of what I wrote. XD I'm paranoid D: -) Yeah... I took five months instead, but hopefully next time it'll faster. (:

Poison Apple: (heh, heh, heh...) Thanks! (: Yeah, I don't know much of anything about his father either, except that flashblack where he got the M. Ring in the anime and some mention of him in the manga. So I can make him nice or evil or whiny if I want to...

TsukiroKetto Queen of rants: Thanks! Yeah, I guess it was... and after we had that whole discussion. D: Well, this chapter doesn't give closure exactly, but on the bright side, it's one chapter closer to closure ;D

Thank you everyone who reviewed!

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh, but the semi-silly plotline is mine.

communication between host(hikari) and yami/.../

Chapter 24: Ill-Feeling

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Ishizu sat in their usual spot at the small café, rapping her fingers on the table as she waited for her friend to arrive.

She'd come almost fifteen minutes early, so there was still plenty of time. Still, she could not help but be a little anxious for him and kept glancing up at the grungy old clock hanging on the wall. Nervously, she pulled at the neck of her blouse as she felt how fast her heart was beating.

She briefly reflected to herself that she was acting like a shy, jittery teenager on her first date (despite the fact that it was neither technically a date, nor was it their first time meeting like this), but before she had much time to fall into a romantic sort of reverie, envisioning herself as a beautiful, shy young woman in love, an image of how Malik would be making fun of her if he could see took its place. She frowned.

She glanced up at the clock again and was a little startled to see that it was already five minutes past the time they were supposed to meet. Where was he?

She shook her head. He was probably just running a little late; it wasn't as though he'd been right on the hour whenever he'd come before.

Sighing, she went ahead and ordered a cup of hot coffee. She had to order something, or else they probably wouldn't let her stay.

Adding cream, she slowly stirred the cup of brown liquid. As she stirred, she began to think about Odion and how he was supposed to have that project for the owner done today and felt a stab of guilt.

She'd been so caught up in things lately that she hadn't helped him out at all. She didn't even know what the project was supposed to be exactly. Odion had the help of some other workers as she understood it, so she could only hope that they'd be enough. She still wished she'd done something at least, though. It wasn't like her to just leave everything to Odion...

She glanced up at the clock again and frowned a little as she saw that it was fifteen after. She shot a look at the door. Was it possible he wasn't coming?

Twenty-after. Twenty-five after. Half-past. A quarter-til.

Every minute that passed was painfully slow, it seemed to Ishizu. She stared gloomily down at the empty Styrofoam mug of what was now her third cup of coffee.

When the clock struck the hour, Ishizu finally accepted the truth that he wasn't coming and, in a slight daze, she got up and walked out of the coffee shop. A part of her wanted to stay behind and wait some more just in case, but she knew that wasn't practical. The best thing to do would be to go to the museum and see if she could still help Odion with the project.

As she drove along the route that she'd seen Bakura walk before, at least partway, she unconsciously found herself scanning the road and either side of the road as though looking for some kind of accident.

What had happened to Bakura? Had something come up, or was he hurt? Or maybe he'd just decided he didn't feel like it...

She glanced over again and saw the little turn-off that she knew would lead to the Kame Game Shop.

Though she tried to tell herself that it wouldn't do any good – that Yugi wouldn't have any way of knowing where Bakura was any more than she did – she found herself turning off anyway.

Yugi was Bakura's closest friend, she reasoned with herself, so maybe he would know something. Maybe Bakura had some long, after-school meeting today that he'd forgotten about, or maybe he'd gotten detention (not _Bakura_, of course, but you never know what punishment he might get with that yami of his around...), or something else important that Yugi might know about.

After parking her car fairly close by, she approached the Game Shop. Before she went in however, an object sitting just next to the door caught her eye. As she got a little closer, she recognized it as a Domino High school bag and guessed that it was probably Yugi's.

Wondering what possible reason Yugi could have for just leaving his school bag lying around outside, she debated whether to pick it up or not.

The jingle that represented the opening the game shop door distracted her however, and when she looked up, she saw Yugi standing in the doorway.

"Ishizu Ishtar... What are you doing here?" Yugi asked, and Ishizu was sorry to say that he had the tone of someone who thought her being here could be for nothing good. As far as Ishizu was concerned, he might as well have just come out and added, "I know you wouldn't visit us here unless you had just discovered some threat to destroy the world that you needed to warn us about."

Forgetting about the bag and ignoring Yugi's worried expression, she went a little closer and said, "Oh, I was just looking for someone and I thought you might know where he is."

"Looking for someone?" Yugi asked. "Who?"

"Well – " Ishizu began, before it suddenly occurred to her that Yugi would find it incredibly strange that she was looking for Bakura because they'd agreed to play a game of duel monsters at a café. "Uh..."

Yugi seemed to notice Ishizu's discomfort because, instead of waiting for an answer, he said, "Why don't you come inside, Ishizu? It's a little cold out today; winter sure is coming up fast."

"All right," said Ishizu, a little relieved, but still unsure what exactly to say. If she wanted to know if Yugi knew where Bakura was, then she'd have to tell Yugi who she was looking for sometime.

"Would you like some tea, Ishizu?" Yugi asked, as they came to stand in the center of the small shop. "I can go make some if you like."

"Oh, no, I'm fine," said Ishizu. "I probably shouldn't stay here too long..." Rubbing her hands together, she glanced all about the little shop and found herself thinking that the last time she'd been here had been at Halloween.

There was a bit of a silence while Ishizu was thinking and Yugi began to feel uncomfortable.

"So," Yugi said finally, "you said you were looking for someone – is it Malik? The last I saw him, he was still sleeping in class when the final bell rang, but I think Joey went to wake him up. I don't know where he usually goes after school, but maybe he already went back home..."

"He sleeps in class... why am I not surprised?" Ishizu muttered to herself, before she remembered that wasn't why she was here.

"No, actually – " she began, trying to sound business-like, and not embarrassed like she was. "I was looking for Bakura."

"_Bakura_?" Yugi said, looking thoroughly taken aback. After a moment, he dropped his gaze, looking uneasy. "But... But why would you think to look here?"

Ishizu had thought he'd ask why she'd be looking for Bakura, but for some reason, he seemed preoccupied with something he was embarrassed about himself. "Well," Ishizu said, "I thought since you're such close friends... You just seem like you'd be the one to know where he is, Yugi."

"Oh, yes," said Yugi quickly, suddenly looking brighter. "I guess that would make sense." Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know where he is right now. I – I don't think he's at home... Why were you looking for him anyway?"

There was the question. She didn't meet his eyes as she began, "Ah – no, it's a little..." Not knowing exactly how to finish, she said, "But if you don't know where he is, I suppose I'll just look elsewhere. I apologize if I've inconvenienced you..."

"Oh, not at all," Yugi said quickly, then looked uncomfortable and it was his turn not to meet her eyes. "Although... you should know that if you don't find Bakura today, you might not be able to see him."

Startled, Ishizu looked down at Yugi curiously. "What? Why?" she asked.

Yugi shook his head again. "W-Well... Bakura's sister Amane is going back to England, first thing tomorrow morning, and – well, it's not official or anything, but there's a good chance that Bakura will go back with them."

He kept his eyes downcast, and he had a guilty expression on his face, as though it were something he wasn't supposed to know, but Ishizu barely noticed.

She didn't say anything, what he had said not registering for a moment and when it did, she still said nothing, at a complete loss for words. Some part of her felt as though she ought to say something, like 'Oh, I'm sorry to hear that' or 'How unfortunate' in order to console Yugi and maintain that she herself didn't know Bakura that well at the same time. But she found herself unable to say anything.

She turned around to face the door before Yugi had looked back up. "I... I'm sorry, that must be hard for you," she said, focusing everything she had on keeping her her voice completely steady. "But I hope – I hope he will be happy with his relatives."

"Yeah, me too," said Yugi, trying to sound more cheerful than he clearly felt.

"I'll see if – I'll see if I can still find him today but, if I can't, it wasn't really... it wasn't really that important anyway..."

And with that, she walked briskly to the Game Shop door and exited, with Yugi calling after her, "Good luck, Ishizu; I hope you find him. He's probably with Amane now..."

Ishizu went back to her car, but didn't leave right away. Instead, she simply sat in the driver's seat as her thoughts sped dizzily all around inside her head. She drew in a rattling breath to try as she tried to calm herself and it wasn't long before the almost frantic way she felt faded from her system. But she felt a calm so complete that she didn't feel like doing much of anything begin to take its place and she leaned forward against the driver's seat, staring with weary eyes at the hood of her car.

So Bakura may be leaving Japan tomorrow, huh? And he wouldn't return for who-knows-when... Ishizu wondered, not for the first time, why Bakura had been willing to play Duel Monsters before, and why he'd continued to do so. Why had she grown to like it so much for that matter? She knew, at the time of their first duel, she had wanted something to distract her from her work for a little while and she'd enjoyed having someone to make conversation with. But now, thinking back, perhaps it was also because that, despite having Malik, Odion, and recently Serenity living in her house, she was lonely. Odion and Malik cared about her of course, but she knew of their deep connection with one another. Odion was completely devoted to Malik, and Malik cared about his stepbrother more than anyone. So often, as she was working one of her many part-time jobs, trying to make enough money so that they could live in their apartment, she thought of this and it made her feel completely alone.

Perhaps Bakura had been lonely as well. It was obvious that he was surrounded by friends who cared about him, but it didn't seem as though he were the most important person to any of them. Out of all of them, Yugi was probably closest to him, but the one Yugi was closest to was the spirit of his Millennium Puzzle. Yugi's best friend was Joey, or at least that's the way it used to be and Yugi's crush was Téa. Even if, like her, Bakura tried not to think about it, he had to have felt lonely sometimes.

But now, Bakura had his sister back and his sister cared about her brother more than she cared about anyone else. Of course he would want to go back with her, now that he wasn't alone anymore...

Now, Ishizu Ishtar was no longer needed.

Ishizu turned the car keys and started the car. She had a thought to go straight home to lay in her own bed, and not get up until twelve the next day, but she remembered Odion, working at the museum on some unknown project. Odion was always so helpful, constantly picking up the slack for her; it wouldn't be right for her to just leave him there to work by himself. She would go help him, and be that good support figure in the family that she knew she was. A supporting person, that's what she had to be.

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I was planning on making this chapter about twice this long as an apology for last chapter, but, I ended up deciding to cut it off there and leave the next part for next chapter, because it had been so long and I wanted to post before I went on vacation. Besides, this is a lot less of a cliffhanger than what I had in mind ;D (even though nothing from last chapter was really answered D: -)

Please r and r!

Posted 7/6/07


	25. The Museum Project

I'm sorry for taking so long! D: I haven't really been working on fanfiction much all school year... But for some reason, I suddenly got in the mood when all my AP tests were over. XD

Thank you everyone who reviewed! I read somewhere that it's against site rules to reply to reviews using space before/after chapters (unfortunately, I still haven't been able to find this list of rules myself... am I handicapped or something? X3 ). If that's true, I guess I shouldn't do that anymore. D: I'll try to use the 'reply' button thing that you see next to reviews from now on.

disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh, but the silly plotline is mine. (:

communication between host(hikari) and yami: /.../

Chapter 25: The Museum Project

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Most people know that there are certain places, places which are filled with the activity of people doing this and that during the day, that are not the places to be at night. Schools, with their long empty halls lined with empty lockers and classrooms in which any ill-mannered person could easily hide and jump out at you as you're passing by, are one of these places, along with malls, bars, certain restaurants, and the unkempt allies between buildings.

Museums happen to be another one of these places, and the museum in the town of Domino was no exception. The faces of the sarcophogi, distorted by the darkness so as to have a sinister hue, stood imposingly in various places around the Egypt display, and the shadows of the other exhibits crawled along the wall every time a small beacon of light passed by the glass doors at the front of the building.

However, it seemed the man who worked at this museum was right at home in the oppressive atmosphere. Even at that late hour, long after the museum had closed and the last few workers had gone home, Odion Ishtar was still working in the back room on the 'project' he'd been assigned by Mr. Bakura.

The museum's owner had said that it had to be done by Tuesday after next, and that was this Tuesday. Odion had been working hard on it for the last two weeks, but with the size of the project it had been a rather ridiculous request. Plus, with the cheap, inadequate materials Mr. Bakura had supplied him with, the thing would be so ugly it would be unusable for much of anything except using up a room that could have been used for something else. Not to mention the fact that he was the only worker, save the times that Malik had come in and 'helped' him.

Odion would have to hope that Mr. Bakura gave them an extension.

As Odion continued to paint black line after black line, adding a hieroglyph here and there, he hesitated as he heard the heavy footsteps of someone in the doorway and he turned to look down from his place on the tall step ladder at the person.

"What are you still doing here?" asked Mr. Bakura in an irritated tone. "Aren't you done yet?"

"Not yet, Sir," Odion answered.

"Well," said Mr. Bakura, picking distastefully at some of the cheap, already-starting-to-peel gray paint that had been hastily put up in a vain attempt to make the flat white walls look like dungeon stone. "_Well_."

Odion said nothing and turned back around so as to continue his work.

"Fine," said Mr. Bakura, frowning a little more than usual. "Fine, it'll have to do. You can go home now."

Odion glanced back around at Mr. Bakura, wondering at the abrupt dismissal. "Yes, Sir," said Odion, and started to climb down from the ladder.

Mr. Bakura gestured toward the door while Odion went, looking impatient, and shut off the lights, not seeming to care much that it might have made Odion miss a step if he hadn't been being careful and fall ten feet to the hard linoleum below.

"Hurry up, I don't have all night," Mr. Bakura said coldly, gesturing toward the door again in the darkness, and Odion chose to ignore his boss for the time being, focusing all his attention on making sure his feet found the right spots.

"Hurry," said Mr. Bakura again, frowning, then added, "Use the back exit."

Odion decided not to try to make sense of the museum owner's strange behavior and only said "Yes, Sir" again without turning around. Just as Odion reached the last step, however, the sound of someone else complaining in a loud voice made him turn his head.

"I have a feeling this isn't going to look anything like what I want," said a tall man dressed in what looked like a dark cloak. He barely glanced at Mr. Bakura as he shoved past him into the room. He turned back and called to two people standing just outside the room. "Well – bring him in."

"_Wait_ – " Mr. Bakura began, looking angry. He shot a look at Odion, standing in the darkness at the foot of the ladder. The newcomer didn't appear to have noticed him.

A moment later, two men in dark suits came barging in past Mr. Bakura, holding some kind of load between them.

"Turn on the lights!" ordered the tall man. "I want to get a better look at the room, though after hearing of the miserly budget you kept for this project, my expectations are not high. But perhaps it will look better in candlelight... You _did _remember to put candles in, didn't you?"

"_Wait_ a moment, you blundering – " Mr. Bakura hissed, furious, but it was too late.

The lights flickered on and Odion froze as he recognized the cloak the man was wearing and the small scar on the side of the man's head.

The man's eyes slowly focused on Odion and a small smile crept across his face. "And who is this?" he asked Mr. Bakura, not taking his eyes off Odion. "I thought only you and your daughter with your lovely gift were to be at the museum."

"That's what I was trying to tell you," said Mr. Bakura, annoyed. "I didn't realize he'd be here this late – now, thanks to your carelessness, we're going to have to do something. This is why I told you to wait in the lobby until I could make sure it was clear."

"Don't worry about it," said the cloaked man, waving a hand. "I'll handle things here. This man and I are old friends... isn't that right, Odion?"

Odion stiffened, recovering from his initial stunned stupor. He said nothing.

Mr. Bakura glanced at Odion and the cloaked figure and back again, suspicious. "Well, you'll have to think of a creative way to do it," said Mr. Bakura. "I don't want this to affect me later."

"Of course not," said the cloak, grinning grotesquely from ear to ear. "Leave _everything_ to me." He snapped his fingers at the two guards.

As Odion's eyes flickered to the two guards, he was hit with a feeling of silent horror as he saw that the weight they'd been carrying between them was a person – in fact, a teenage boy with long white hair to be exact.

At their master's command, the two instantly dropped the unconscious boy to the floor and were on Odion in a second, catching him in his moment of shock at seeing Bakura there. Before Odion had had a chance to react, one of the men had wrenched his arm behind his back while the other had a knife to his throat.

Mr. Bakura looked considerably calmer now that the potential threat had been stopped. "Now that that's been taken care of... most importantly, you _do_ have the money, don't you?"

"Yes, yes," said the cloak impatiently. "It's in the suitcase."

At that moment, a couple of more suits appeared at the entrance, carrying a large black suitcase. They offered it to Mr. Bakura and Mr. Bakura took it quickly.

Opening it up, Mr. Bakura greedily observed the forest green contents until he was satisfied. Closing it up again, he started toward the door. Before he reached it however, he turned his head back around to glance at Odion. "Take care of this," Mr. Bakura ordered again. "This is because of your recklessness, you know. I'm leaving him to you."

The cloak made a mock salute and turned back to Odion.

However, just before Mr. Bakura left the room, Odion caught a glimpse of a young, pale girl with long white hair standing just outside the door with an anxious expression on her face.

"That man isn't going to hurt him, is he?" she asked, leaving Odion's line of sight as she followed her father down the hall.

"Probably not," said Mr. Bakura, sounding more pleased and content than Odion had ever heard him sound before, and not particularly concerned with the well-being of his son. Their voices faded as they went down the hall.

Odion's eyes went back to the man in the long dark cloak.

The man shook his head, smiling. "I just couldn't believe it," he said. "When I heard the name 'Ishtar'... and today of all days. I was actually hoping to run into your brother, but oh well, such is life. But I suppose it would be a waste of time to try and tell you to join me. You quit on us too, after all."

"What... are you going to do with the boy?" Odion asked slowly.

The man picked at the chain on the front of the cloak, still smiling. "Something," he said, his eyes alight with malice. Then he sighed. "Well, unfortunately I don't have time to deal with you right now. I'm anxious to get this thing I've been wanting underway. Don't take it personally, but right now, I'm not too concerned with you. I'll get back to you later, but for now I just want you out of my way."

With that, he shot a look at the guards holding Odion captive. Odion's eyes widened ever so slightly, but he said nothing as the guard with the knife raised the hilt over his head.

* * *

A little while earlier...

Ishizu Ishtar arrived at the museum. She climbed the steps, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead of her. Though it was not all that late in the day yet, the days had already begun to shorten and as the sun quickly went down, her surroundings continued to grow darker and darker. Unlike her stepbrother, Ishizu found the darkness unnerving.

When she entered the museum, she headed straight for the light switch board, despite Mr. Bakura's repeated emphasis on not turning on lights in rooms that weren't being used after hours. She may have grown up in the darkness of a tomb, but she associated so many horrible memories with that tomb that should could take no comfort in the darkness. Especially right now, when everything seemed so bleak and depressing anyway, she really wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

However, just as she'd been about to open the lights box, she froze as she heard a murmur of muffled voices outside the museum. Although she knew the likelihood that really dangerous people would be coming to the museum, especially considering it was only just after eight o'clock, was relatively slim, she couldn't quiet the apprehension she felt in the dark, ominous atmosphere.

She internally debated for a moment whether to turn the lights on or not, but as the voices grew louder, her instincts took over and she took off as quietly as she could across the room until she reached a vending machine in the corner of the room. Without thinking, she slid herself into the spot between the side of the machine and the wall, and crouched down, trying to steady her hard breathing as just the owners of the voices entered the museum.

"...have the room ready, right Bakura? That was part of our agreement," one of the men was saying.

"Yes, yes. But don't expect it to be state of the art. It's not like your payments exactly covered this room, you understand," answered Mr. Bakura's voice.

"I'm giving you plenty – more than enough to cover the room," the man argued. "Why, how much did you spend on it?"

Ishizu visibly relaxed, breathing a quiet sigh of relief, and suddenly felt rather silly. It was only Mr. Bakura and one of his associates, probably come to check out the project Odion had been working on. Embarrassed by her own overreaction and unsure how to explain why she was hiding behind a vending machine, she didn't step out right away.

"Well, just so it's completed," said the first man relented, though not sounding pleased.

Ishizu remembered again that today was supposed to be the deadline of when the project was supposed to have been completed. She felt a stab of guilt. She hadn't helped Odion once during the whole time it was to be worked on...

Ishizu started to move out from her hiding place behind the vending machine, determined to take full responsibility if the project _wasn't_ finished yet, but she hesitated as the first man spoke again.

"In any case, you did make sure he was wearing the pendant, didn't you?" he asked, his voice colder and more serious than before. "After all, if he's not wearing it, then this will all have been totally pointless and I'm afraid I won't be inclined to pay either of you a dime... Well, Girl?"

Ishizu heard a young girl's voice reply, "He... he told me he never takes it off."

"Amane did her job," said Mr. Bakura, a little defensively. "Why don't you just check to see if he's wearing it yourself?"

Instead of an answer, Ishizu heard the rustle of clothing. Confused, Ishizu wasn't sure she liked the sound of what was being said. She hesitated, then tentatively looked around the edge of the vending machine.

Five dark figures stood in the gloom of the museum lobby, outlined by the dim light of one of the outside night lamps attached to the outside of the museum. Two of the figures seemed to be carrying something large and heavy between them. It looked like a person. A third figure was bending over the load, examining it carefully.

Ishizu shivered, but didn't take her eyes away and strained to see better. However, her eyes were saved the necessity of adjusting completely to the dark as the lights of a passing car temporarily illuminated the scene.

Mr. Bakura stood nearby, his face stern, while Amane stood nearby looking anxious. The two figures that held the load were dressed in suits and sunglasses, despite the darkness, making them looking like security guards. The man leaning down was thin and had a sallow grin on his face. And finally, Ishizu's eyes came to rest on what the two black-suited guards were carrying. The blood drained from her face as her gaze fell on the pale, thin features of Bakura, his head hanging unresponsively against his chest.

Ishizu's head snapped back behind the vending machine and she pressed herself as much as she could into the corner. Sweat broke out on her face. Something was going on here – something bad. But what could she do, without any sort of Millennium powers?

The voice of the third man made her jump.

"Good," he said, sounding satisfied. "Now, lead the way. I wish to go see the room."

"Patience," said Mr. Bakura. "We ought to make sure there's no one in the museum first. It's doubtful at this hour, especially since I told the night guards to take the night off, but it's better to be safe. I would hate to have to waste time patching up problems later."

"I suppose so," said the first man, though his voice didn't sound all that compliant. "Now that you mention it, I think I did see a car in the parking lot."

Ishizu's heart skipped a beat.

"What did it look like?" Mr. Bakura asked swiftly.

"It was hard to see in this light," said the man, "but it was small and yellow. Or some other lighter color."

"The Ishtars," said Mr. Bakura. "They work at this museum."

A short pause followed before Mr. Bakura said, "I'll go look for them and get them to leave. Stay here." With that, the museum owner walked quickly away from his group, passing right by Ishizu's hiding place as he entered the hallway that led to the room Odion was working on. If he had turned his head a little to the left as he'd passed, he might have caught sight of Ishizu's white shirt, or her blue eyes gleaming with fear in the dark spot behind the vending machine.

But he didn't turn, and kept on walking toward where Odion was working.

It was all right, she told herself, he was just going to convince Odion to leave, and Odion wouldn't be any the wiser of the terrible things going on. They wouldn't hurt him. Of course, once he got outside, he would see the car and know Ishizu was there, even if Mr. Bakura didn't know. Then he would come back in, looking for her...

No, she couldn't worry about that yet. Bakura was in immediate danger. What were they planning to do to him? The man wanted the pendant... did he know of its powers?

She made up her mind to call Yugi when all the rest of the group had gone to the back room to see the project. After all, the pharaoh would be the best one to deal with people who wanted to take the Millennium Ring. As soon as she was done, she could go outside the museum and catch Odion before he went back inside to look for her.

She nodded to herself, feeling a little calmer now that she had a plan.

"The Ishtars, eh...?" said the man softly, as though he were only speaking to himself and, though Ishizu couldn't see him, she thought she felt him smirking with amusement at some private joke. A chill went down her spine as he added, "This should make things fun."

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Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!

posted 6/17/08 (even though I had this written up before school even started, I was too lazy to post it right away XD)


	26. Gone

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugi-oh, but the silly plotline is mine. (:

Chapter 26: Gone

The sun finished setting on Domino, leaving a blanket of darkness over the town. At the same time, the last bit of light was also fading from Yugi Mohto's mood as he sat glumly in bed in the upstairs of the family game shop.

"He's not coming back, is he," said Yugi, his tone indicating that it was a statement, not a question. "He's going to stay with her and then he'll leave in the morning... But without saying good-bye? Why hasn't he come back here yet and explained to us what he's going to do?"

/I don't know,-/ said Yami sadly.

"Maybe it's hard for him," said Yugi, attempting to answer his own question. "Maybe he doesn't know how to tell us."

/Maybe _she_ won't let him come back,-/ Yami suggested.

Yugi forced a smile. "Maybe." He set down the piece of the puzzle he'd gotten out in an attempt to distract himself from his worries, but he'd been unable to keep his mind on it. "But he's got to come back tonight sometime. He must know how worried we are."

/Yes, but... he may have forgotten. If he's going to England after being in Japan so long, he may have other things to think about. It would be a big change./

"Yes, but I know Bakura wouldn't just forget. Bakura isn't like that. Remember how bad he felt when he came home late when he was with Amane before? I know he'll come."

Yami didn't answer.

"I'm sure he won't forget us," Yugi repeated. However, he glanced at the clock again and his worried expression returned. "But, you know, maybe something happened."

A heavy silence followed as the two thought of this possibility.

/Yugi – / Yami began, but at that moment, the bell downstairs that signaled someone had entered the game shop rang and Yugi jumped up in excitement.

"That's got to be him!" he cried and dashed downstairs. However, as he reached the bottom and laid eyes on the person who had just entered, his face fell in disappointment.

"Oh, it's you, Mai."

"Don't be too enthusiastic," said Mai, looking both annoyed and amused.

"Sorry," said Yugi, forcing himself to smile. "I was just expecting... Well anyway, what brings you here?"

Mai eyes narrowed slightly in curiosity, but instead of asking, she only shrugged. "Well, I was out late shopping and thought I might as well stop by before I headed on home. But of course, if I'm not welcome..."

Yugi only smiled in response, as her tone was playful. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised to see Mai. In truth, she had been "happening to stop by" quite a lot lately, though usually not this late. It was usually like this; she would talk to Yugi a little before Yami took over and they spoke the rest of the time. Yugi couldn't have said whether Mai really had taken a sudden interest in Yami or if she just enjoyed being around someone who she knew to be on her side in the cold war against Téa and Joey.

Yugi shot one more glance at the glass door of the game shop, hoping once again to see Bakura coming up before, sighing a little, he let Yami take over.

"Hello, Mai," said Yami.

"Well, hello," said Mai, recognizing him first by his change in tone. "Glad you could make it."

Yami leaned against the counter without saying anything. He'd been concentrating so hard on this situation with Bakura that he didn't know what to talk about.

After Halloween, Yami had been a little apprehensive. After all, hadn't she said before that after Halloween, she would leave the next day? Yami doubted that she would have forgotten about it, but, to his relief, she must have decided she didn't want to go after all. Instead, she came and visited them, and he certainly didn't mind. Just the opposite.

However, someone other than who he had been expecting may be leaving their group of friends now. The thought made Yami sigh. Just one thing after another...

Mai seemed to notice his dejection and said, trying to distract him from his thoughts, "Hey, I heard that Kaiba's throwing _another_ tournament. The details haven't been hammered out yet, but... You think you're up to playing his game again?"

Yami blinked in surprise, focusing his attention on Mai again. "Oh – yes, perhaps. We'll have to see, I suppose."

Mai watched him with a sneaking suspicion that he hadn't been listening to a word she said. For one thing, he usually jumped at the word 'tournament.' "So you might not be up to it?" she asked and rolled her eyes when he gave her a puzzled look. "Never mind," she said. Her expression became slightly concerned. "You doing all right? You and Yugi both seem kind of off today." She paused. "Who were you waiting for?"

"Well..." said Yami hesitantly. Bakura didn't seem to want anyone to know he was staying at the Game Shop. But at the very least Mai did have a right to know if one of their friends might be leaving, didn't she?

Mai looked at him expectantly and Yami began, "Well, you see... Bakura. He – "

However, the ringing of the telephone from the back of the shop cut him off. The two of them stared at it for a long moment, the room of the store silent but for the ceaseless din.

"Sorry, just a moment," said Yami, going to the phone. He frowned, a little irritated at being cut off.

/Maybe it's Bakura, calling to tell us where he is,-/ Yugi suggested.

/Perhaps,-/ Yami responded. An unexplained feeling of foreboding settled over him, though. /I hope that's the case./

Yami picked up the phone. "Hello, this is the Kame Game Shop."

Only the sound of ragged breathing answered him and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He felt Yugi's nervousness through their link.

"...May I ask who's calling?"

Finally, a voice replied in tones of superficial calm overlaying near panic, "My Pharaoh."

"_Ishizu_?"

Mai twitched at the name and her shoulders tensed. She kept her gaze trained on one of the games on display, as though trying hard not to appear as though she was listening intently to every word.

Yami nodded once, then his eyes widened in shock. "What? How could that have – ? Yes... Yes. I understand."

As soon as Yami had replaced the phone on its holder, Mai asked casually, "Does she make a habit of calling you all the time? What, is the world in danger or something?"

Yami looked grim. Grabbing his blue school uniform jacket, he flicked off the lights and started toward the door. He turned and looked back at her, the moonlight illuminating the side of his face and throwing the worried lines of his face into sharp relief.

"We have to get to the museum as soon as possible... Bakura needs our help."

* * *

Darkness fluctuated around him in a veiled mist of dancing colors.

_Whump_.

Ryou Bakura stirred and dimly felt a pain in his stomach. But the pain was dreamlike, unreal. Even so, he tried to move his arms to it, but they wouldn't move from their position behind his back.

Awareness slowly began to seep back through him and he realized his arms wouldn't move because something was keeping them tied behind his back. His wrists burned.

_Whump_.

This time he groaned as he felt something connect with his stomach again.

"Wake up," a voice ordered.

Bakua slowly opened his eyes, trying to orient himself. Laying on his side, he turned his head to see the face of the tall, dark figure towering over him, the man's form silhouetted eerily in the dim light of the room.

Bakura whimpered as the man threw another kick at his exposed ribs. Now quite awake, Bakura found the pain unmistakably real and unpleasant.

The man barked out a laugh as he turned and began to walk away. "Rise and shine," he sneered.

Bakura squinted through blurred vision and thought he could make out candles all along the far wall of the large room. The man held what appeared to be cigarette lighter gripped in one hand, going methodically around the room and lighting the candles.

Bakura tried again to move, but found again that his arms were still tied behind his back, and to his dismay, he discovered his legs had been tied together as well. Pain shooting through his head, his ribs bruised and hurting, the reality of his situation finally began to dawn on him.

'Am I really a prisoner here?' he wondered. He couldn't think of a single reason why he would be and even more, he couldn't think of when it might have happened. Though not knowing what was going on wasn't exactly unusual for him.

His heavy breathing quickened and he tried to calm himself. Remember – remember – what was the last thing he had done? He'd been going home from school, then he'd run into Amane at the Game Shop –

He sighed. He just couldn't remember anything else.

He lifted his head a little and it spun with pain. Still, he surveyed his surroundings, trying to make some sense of where he was.

He put his head back down and closed his eyes, concentrating on breathing deeply and evenly. However, he couldn't stop the sweat that broke out on his neck and the nervous twitch behind his eyelids.

He slowly opened his eyes once more and saw that he had not imagined the strangely bizarre setting. The shrine, almost resembling an underground tomb, was scattered with candles, some even mounted on skulls. Yes, pathetically cliché as they were, the skulls gave him the creeps. But what spooked him the most about the setup was that he, Bakura, was lying almost in the exact center of the room and circle of candles, like some kind of hapless sacrifice.

A thrill of fear shot through him as he thought the word and he involuntarily curled inward. Again, he tried to calm himself, concentrating on regulating his unsteady breathing.

When he looked around once again, he began to notice things that hadn't managed to catch his attention before. They weren't in an underground tomb, not a real once at least, he realized. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he saw that the surrounding walls that he'd taken for the stone walls of an underground dungeon was, in fact, nothing but a regular flat wall painted gray with black lines to make it appear like stone.

The gray paint looked old – or perhaps just cheap, as it had started to peel from the walls in some places, while the black paint of the hieroglyphs glimmered in the dim candlelight, like it had just been put on a little while ago.

But, even if the walls had been convincing, the illusion of being in a dungeon underground would have been dispelled by the cold floor he was laying on, with its perfectly normal, white linoleum tiles. Even as Bakura's eyes went over the hieroglyphs, not bad in and of themselves, he thought he caught sight of a few places with lines that suspiciously resembled smiley faces.

The ridiculousness of the place made Bakura knit his eyebrows and he might have laughed out loud had not his hands still been tied behind his back and his captor in the long black cloak standing not ten feet away. The candles seemed awkward and out of place, like a sad attempt to still save the attempt at appearing intimidating.

That's what Bakura was thinking as his eyes scanned the room again. However, his gaze fell on something that brought the reality of the situation come back to him in a flash.

His breathing became rugged and he tried futilely again to get his arms free from their bonds as he found himself staring at a dark form slumped up against the peeling gray wall just behind him. Odion...! Some dark, glittering substance was trickling from his temple.

Panic started to rise in his chest. How silly or harmless the room they were in was, the man he was dealing with was certainly not. He could see now how helpless he was, at the mercy of this nut case in the black cloak.

He started to fight against the bonds on his hands and feet, pulling at his wrists, but the tight knots scraping into his skin did not relent or even get the slightest bit looser.

A knife, he would need a knife...! Didn't his other self often carry a knife on his person without Bakura's knowledge or permission? But where...

If his hands had been free, Bakura could have slapped himself in the forehead. The spirit. Of course, the spirit of the Millennium Ring would get him out of this, as he always did. His other self hadn't said a word this entire time, probably secretly enjoying his host's distress from his soul room. That would be just like him, laughing at him when Bakura was at the edge of pure terror.

Even so, at that moment, Bakura didn't care as he felt himself relax in the realization he was safe.

/Yami?-/ said Bakura. He waited, but there came no reply. /You've already had you're fun,-/ said Bakura, starting to get a little edgy again, /I know you want to come out to save the day. I'll buy you a new knife as long as you promise not to use it on anyone. Okay, I'll even let you duel Ishizu. Just once, though./

Still, no answer came.

Bakura's stomach began to tighten and twist in knots again. Why wasn't he responding? /Yami?-/

But suddenly, he froze as he noticed something odd for the first time. He'd gotten so used to wearing the it that he almost didn't notice its weight anymore despite how large it was for a pendant. But right now, his chest felt strangely...

Trying to suppress his rising dread, he rolled himself over onto his stomach, so that his chest pressed against the hard linoleum. There could be no mistake: The Millennium Ring was gone.

* * *

A/N: I know, this was a worst place to leave off than the last one.

2011-09-14 (don't suppose you have an easier nickname for me to use? (; ), 'Masterpiece,' lol. Well, thank you for saying so, it means a lot (: I've been trying to concentrate on EoD at the moment, so this one sort of got pushed to the side. But your review did remind me of this fic and when I went to look at what I had done so far on the next chapter, I found I had already completed the this chapter quite awhile ago and forgotten about it. (Yeah, the last save date on the file was back in March... I'm sorry about that.)

Anyway, thank you so, so much everyone for all your reviews! Even though it's been like a year and there's probably hardly anyone actually reading this anymore. xD It really does motivate me to work on this when I have a tendency to focus on other projects. Anyway, I'm sorry... I really will try to do better next time.

Sigh, I suppose I'd better go study for my Midterms now.

Posted 9/28/11


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